The Half-Blood Gang
by Abby Mad
Summary: Lexie is a member of a teenage gang - they are crazy, misbehaving, hyperactive and altogether unbearable. Oh, right, they're also demigods! And now there's danger lurking around every corner. ...Will they stay alive long enough to get to safety and find out who they truly are?
1. The Gang

Lexie had always hated that narcissistic idiot called Kurt Austin. She didn't know what everyone liked about him so much – he wasn't smart, he wasn't interesting, he dressed like a wannabe fashion designer and he flashed those huge teeth of his everywhere. Lexie wasn't sure what was worse – his annoying voice or his mindless words.

So it wasn't a surprise that she jumped him when he made a retort about how awful she looked – it had been the last straw. He'd left the school with a bloody nose, cut lower lip and a swelling eye. There had been a lot of noise and now Lexie was in the principal's office, waiting for him to turn up and tell her what her punishment is.

Her knuckles were perfectly fine, just as they ever were, even after she's beat her hand in the wall for hours. She never seemed to get hurt when she was being violent. It was a quality that she always used in her own advantage – whenever she beat someone up and they accused her, she'd say that she's never touched them in her life; then they would inspect her hands and when they didn't see any redness, swelling or cuts, they'd let her go.

When the principal came in he was keeping his anger in. It wasn't the first time Lexie had been here. It wasn't the second either. Or the third… Principal Ryanson had grown tired of having her in his office.

"Look, Alexandra," he started when he got to his seat. "Which time is it?"

"What do you mean?" Lexie asked, pretending to be completely clueless, it was something she exceeded at.

"Don't you play dumb with me, child!" the principal said. He sounded exhausted. Apparently he'd developed immunity to her _Innocence_. "You were here, in my office last week! What happened this time? A fight again?"

"Oh, no. I just punched that Kurt Austin idiot. How was I to know he was so fragile?" she said in defense. It was easy talking to Principal Ryanson – he always seemed to understand. But now there was nothing he could to but suspend her. Lexie sat quietly, waiting for her verdict, cracking her fingers.

"I'm going to have to suspend you, you know that. But if his parents want decide on it, they can have you transferred to another school."

"Well, a new school doesn't sound so bad…"

"Hey, do you even understand the position you are in?"

"Yes, sir." Lexie was getting bored. Good thing that the principal wasn't one of those people who'd start lecturing you for the 100th time on things that you heard again and again, and again.

"Good." He said and nodded. "I'll have to call Judith now. Off you go."

Lexie frowned and stood up. "Oh, come on, Mr. Ryanson… you know she doesn't care! She probably won't even pick up the stupid phone…"

"Language, Alexandra. Now out of my office. I'll be expecting you here next week, eight o'clock sharp. Understood?"

"Understood," Lexie said quietly and left the room.

Judith was probably going to yell at her when she got back. But then she'd go into the kitchen to finish preparing the dinner and forget all about it in the process. She was an interesting kind of human. Lexie was okay with her but sometimes she really got on her nerves. She decided she'd go home in the evening and spend the time until then with her friends. Or whatever those people were to her. Her_ pack _was the best description.

"Hey, Rager," Caleb said. He was pack leader. He was 18, tall, strong, and handsome and he was the reason Lexie had decided to join the gang. For her he was dark and mysterious, and extremely interesting. He barely told anyone anything personal but before she joined, they'd had a moment of openness. "Who'd you beat up this time?" he asked her and she grunted.

"That idiot Kurt Austin." The pack exchanged amused glances and Johnny laughed.

Johnny was the witty one. He cracked jokes all the time and always seemed to be able to lighten the mood, even at its darkest. He had a weakness for weed and alcohol and he loved growing all kinds of plants in his backyard (he lived in his grandmother's house just out of town after he'd escaped from his mom and her new husband). He was 15 but he didn't look like it with his messy, curly, reddish black hair and his mesmerizing hazel eyes – if you looked long enough you could see the traces of past hardships.

Rubens was the one with the brains and he was just as mysterious as Caleb but he was two years younger than him, Lexie's age. It was one thing in common that he and Lexie had but Lexie never paid him much thought because he'd always stay in the background. On the other hand, he did have the strange ability to unnerve her. It was his eyes, Lexie was certain of it – those big, striking grey eyes that seemed like they could see into your soul… His wispy hair was light brown but enough time under the summer sun made it blonde. He was attractive and secretive and Lexie loved to fight with him just for the sport.

Buchwas another member of the pack but Lexie actually had no idea why he was there. As she'd understood, he was an old friend of Caleb's. Other than that, she had no idea – he wasn't smart, he wasn't as strong as the rest of them (please, even Barry could take him on), there seemed to be something wrong with his legs because he was limping when he walked but he ran just fine (only slowly). So Buchwas yet another mystery to Lexie. He was just a year older than she was and he wasn't as athletic and active (or hyperactive in some cases) as the rest of them; he had very pale skin and very curly, very messy ginger hair but his eyes… they were greener than grass in May, the only thing that showed how alive he really was.

Barry was a thin, elusive, smartass that Lexie loved like a brother. He was so slick and tactical that he could steal anything he set his eyes on (he'd tried once with a brand new Toyota but Buch had ruined the operation); he was a fast runner and an amazing liar. Sometimes he made Lexie wonder but then she would shake it away and somehow see through his words. So far he'd managed to lie to everyone in the pack at least once, except for Lexie. She wanted keep it that way. He was a kleptomaniac, there was no doubt about that and he loved girls. Apparently girls loved him back, even though Lexie couldn't see anything different than _the wish to have fun_ beneath his short brown hair, pierced ears, blazing blue eyes, crazy but contagious smile and annoyingly resistant enthusiasm.

And that was their pack. Six stray teenagers, that came together to go against the system and protect their freedom. Later on, they would realize, also their lives.

"Hey, Caleb," Lexie asked him after the group had headed to the abandoned warehouse at the docks that they used as a hideout. "Why us?"

Caleb was quiet for a moment but then he smiled. "One can't choose his family, but he can choose his friends, right?"

Lexie nodded. "Sure but if it wasn't for the gang I don't think I would ever have become friends with these guys." Caleb was quiet. Lexie was sure there was something he was keeping from her.

"I'm not so sure," he said carelessly.

Something was wrong and Lexie had been closing her eyes for the past couple of months, but now the urge to know was getting annoying. She wasn't going to leave it alone, no matter what Caleb told her.


	2. The Hideout and a Crazy Idea

The abandoned warehouse at the docks had been a very cold, very dark and especially dirty place. Barry had somehow found it after some police officers chased him down here because they caught him shoplifting. When they'd reached this place he was able to lose them and hide. That is how he came across this place they now called home.

Caleb had been impressed and disgusted. It _was_ an awful place but at least it was empty and no one came here. He'd showed it to everyone and told them that they had to fix it because that was going to be _their place_ from now on. With such a stress on those words, no wonder the job was done in less than a week. From a closed up dump, they were looking now at a cozy ware_house_.

When Lexie went in, she jumped onto her favourite sofa and turned on the old, half-broken TV that Buch had found in a dump somewhere. The TV still worked and she couldn't realize why the hell anyone would want to throw away a perfectly good TV. She found her favourite channel and settled to watch some champion MMA fighting.

"Hey, hey, hey! Rager, what the hell, woman?" Johnny said quickly as he pushed her legs away and sat down on the same sofa. "You watched yours last time, hand over the remote."

"No way, man," she said, pretending to be offended but actually enjoying herself. "Get your own TV!"

"Oh, come on! There are _rules _here, lady. And you don't want me to go around telling everyone your dirty little secrets, do you?"

Oh, that stung. Johnny was not only an excellent joker but he also _knew_ stuff. Lexie wasn't sure how but she'd realized it one time after she'd challenged him (much like she was doing now) and he asked her that same question and it turned out that he knew where she lived and what her relationship with her foster mother was – something she would do anything for the others not to know. So now she wondered what kind of garbage he had in mind. She had a lot of secrets.

"Oh, you sly dog!" she said with a smile. "You know what?" she sat up and looked at him with eyes flashing a crazy idea. "I'll fight you for it!" She laughed and waved the remote in front of his face and when he reached out, she laughed and snapped her fingers inches to his eyes, then to his ribs and then to his ear. He was too open, way too easy to beat – he wasn't worth the actual beating.

"Now imagine I'd hit those points my friend," she said and sat back down, holding the remote triumphantly in the air, smiling and watching her show. Then someone took the remote. She jumped up and saw Rubens, who was just passing by, handing the remote to Johnny and she wanted to jump him right then. She smiled. "Hey, go to hell!"

"Sorry, I prefer Tartarus." He said calmly and took his favourite seat up by the window. It was an interesting seat – up a ladder, there was an alcove. Right at the top of the wall, next to the ceiling. Lexie hadn't seen the point in that so she left the owl take the nest. Right now Lexie wasn't enjoying herself. He could always top her off with some retort. Always. There were some fights that she just couldn't win. So she knew not to try, but just he wait until she beats his ass in a real fight – he won, occasionally, but she was the true master of the arena.

"Well go to Tartarus then," she said quietly so he wouldn't hear her and sat back in her chair, her eyes studying the show that Johnny so wanted to watch. No, she didn't feel like the effing _Family Guy_. She stood up, looked at Johnny and whispered "_You'll pay for this,_" with a smile. Then she walked over to where Barry, Buch and Caleb were sitting.

"Anything interesting?" she asked in her usual I-don't-give-a-shit voice. The two boys looked at her, Barry with a smile and Caleb with his signature intense gaze that made her heart flutter. She hurried to look away, she didn't want him to notice anything, and sat down on a chair next to Barry. They were looking at some old map of some area of Long Island. She wasn't sure this would be worth her attention but she gave it a shot anyway. "What's that?"

"It's a map of… Long Island Sound and its surroundings," Barry said. Lexie noticed his hesitation but didn't pay it much thought.

"I can see that, genius. I'm asking why you're looking at it," she said and she cast a short glance at Caleb who was just looking up. Then they both looked down and he cleared his throat.

"Well, there's something that we want to check out over there," he said simply and pointed at the forest near the mouth of the river. "There are some people here that we need to talk to."

"What people?" Lexie asked.

"Just… people." Caleb seemed more secretive than before. Lexie wasn't sure what was going on but she knew it wasn't going to be pleasant and she wasn't going to like it. She was just about to ask him more about those people when something came to her mind.

"And unless you've grown a pair of wings or actually bought a car and have money for gas, how exactly do you plan on getting there?" It was a fair question. None of them had an adequate answer – they were in Miami, Long Island was pretty far away. "Now tell me. What's so important that you need to get there?"

"_We_ need to get there," Barry corrected.

"We?" Lexie asked. "Why we? What if I don't want to go?"

"Then we make you." Caleb said but this time his eyes were flashing with something of a challenge. They were a very dark blue that seemed purple or even violet but Lexie knew there was no such thing as violet eyes so she stuck to believing they were a dark blue. His chestnut hair was messy and a strand fell to his eyes but he didn't seem to care. Lexie got the irresistible urge to raise her hand and move it but she just couldn't let herself do it. Instead she went to her best friend – sarcasm.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"You just can't live without me then?"

"No, not really." There it was. She liked those moments with Caleb when they could just shoot words at one another and then still enjoy themselves.

"So tell me, what's on Long Island Sound," she said. This time she was dead serious.


	3. Rubens's Spot Proves Useful

Buch was the one to answer which honestly surprised both Lexie and Barry. He was usually so quiet that they barely even knew he was in the room. But now he seemed pretty excited about this place on the map.

"It's a place where… well, it's definitely better than here. It's a place where no one judges you and you can live among people like you."

"Why do I get the creeps when I hear that?" Lexie asked. Barry wasn't too far behind:

"Yeah, sounds like some weird Jesus sect where they take you in and then secretly sacrifice you to God…"

Buch glanced worriedly at Caleb and he nodded, almost invisibly, but Lexie still caught it. She admired the connection those two shared. If she didn't know better, she'd say they were telepathic.

"Look, eventually we need to get there," he said with the calm voice that he used to talk people into coming to the pack. A voice full of power, seduction and conviction. It was a voice one could hardly resist. "The idea is the same – there's a place there, where the people will accept us for who we are. Some of them came from much worse places. My point is that it's a place like this one, a place where we'll be at home."

"How do you know? It could be just a lie in order to get you there. It's in the middle of the forest, who knows if they won't kill you there. And the best part – no one will know about it." Lexie didn't like the idea. Leaving this warehouse, this ware_home_, to go to someplace none of them was familiar with (not to mention how they'd get there)… no way. She was fine like this, thank you very much.

"No one will kill me there, Lexie," it was always strange to hear him call her that. He usually called her _Rager_ her nickname – because she used to always rage around and break stuff; she didn't anymore but the name stuck around. "It's where I come from."

That took her by surprise. He'd never told her where he'd come from – he'd said it was a painful memory and he preferred avoiding it. Now he was saying he wanted to go back home? What the hell was this?

"What the…"

"Look, it's a sort of… camp. I went there when I was little but then four years ago I just… flipped." His intent gaze was holding Lexie's. She knew what he was talking about. He'd told her back just before she joined the gang that something had made him go berserk and nearly kill someone he really cared about. Then the guilt was just too much for him to bear and he ran away with Buch who had promised to stand by him no matter what. Right now though Lexie was confused. "I ran away but now I can go back. And I want to take you with me because I know you'll be better off there than here on the streets."

Lexie didn't know what to say. It was a strange thought. Why would he do this for them? She ran fingers through her hair as she always did when too many thoughts were whirling inside her head. She didn't know what was going on with Caleb but this was definitely more than she bargained for when she joined the pack.

Barry looked at her and then looked at Caleb. His fingers touched the map and then he smiled. "Hell, I'm in."

"What?" Lexie couldn't help but be surprised.

"It sounds like an adventure. And I'm in for the challenge," Barry smiled. "I can get us a van, by the way."

"Really?" Caleb smiled. "Now that would come in handy."

"Yeah, and I was thinking of…"

He was interrupted by the sound of Lexie's chair sliding backwards with the loud unpleasant sound of wood on cement. She whirled around and stormed out of the warehouse.

She was sitting on the edge of the dock. Her feet were dangling above the dirty sea water. She was throwing gravel pieces, one by one, into the endless dark abyss. The sun was setting but she couldn't see anything pretty about it. She didn't know why so many people were 'enchanted by its unearthly beauty'. It was all a big fat lie. Why didn't they say that? Sunsets happened every day – they were ordinary. Every day was the same, over and over again…

As Lexie's mind circled around such morbid thoughts, trying to avoid the question at hand, Caleb came closer and sat down next to her. She ignored him. It wasn't easy, but she did.

"Hey," he said quietly. She didn't answer. "What's going on?"

"What's going on?" she repeated and then another time, more angrily. "What's going on?! Are you serious? You just drop the fucking bomb and tell everyone you want to take them to Wonderland, where 'the grass is green and the girls are pretty' and you're asking me what's going on? Come on!"

She stood up and started walking away. Caleb gritted his teeth and followed her. Lexie was so angry with him right now that he could see a faint red glow about her.

"Lexie," he called to her.

"No, you know what," she turned around and looked at him with narrowed eyes. They were flashing daggers. When they met Caleb's cool gaze suddenly all the determination vanished into thin air. She gritted her teeth and shook her head.

"Lexie, it's the only place where we can be who we truly are," he said quietly. She knew he was saying the truth. There was no way that they could be free, really free, here where everything they did was somehow breaking the law. Barry's parents had thrown him out, Lexie's mom had died from an overdose and now she had to move from one foster home to another, Johnny had run away from home and Rubens… well, Rubens was a mystery but he tagged along, didn't he? So there was something wrong with his life too. It was absolute: their lives here sucked no matter how they looked at it.

"I just… I feel like it's wrong," she said finally, looking away from him and on to the sea. Suddenly she was blinking a lot. Lexie didn't want to show any weakness to Caleb so she turned away and blinked harder, willing the tears to back where they came from. It worked. She turned back and saw his mild expression, his faint smile in the last rays of the sun. Just before everything was lost in the darkness. That's what's beautiful, she thought. Not the stupid sunset.

"Come on, Lexie. You're the one that loves the challenges," he said then as he led her back to the warehouse. "I promise, if you don't like it, I'll personally come back here with you."

"I don't believe you," she laughed. "But fine." She paused. "Yeah, I'll come to Long Island."

When Lexie walked in something caught her attention. First of all, she wasn't feeling overly enthusiastic about joking around with Johnny or Barry. Second, the lights were flickering. Third, Rubens. Rubens wasn't just sitting in his usual place as he always did. He was looking out the window, looking _for_ something. He seemed more worried than usual.

She quickly went up the ladder and asked him what was going on.

"I think we're gonna have trouble," he said in a low voice.

"What do you mean 'trouble'?" Lexie did not like the sound of that word.

"I mean… _big_ trouble, Rager."

"Cops?"

"Worse."

Lexie froze. What the hell was worse than the police? A SWAT team? Some other Special Forces? The CIA? It couldn't be that bad – they weren't this kind of criminals. She swallowed hard and tried to steady her breathing.

"What do we do?"

"I'll come down in a second. You get everyone in the center and tell Caleb there's trouble."

Lexie nodded. Her head was throbbing with something that she didn't know if it was fear or excitement. Her hands were trembling and the right one was itching for her baseball bat. She jumped down from the alcove and landed softly on her feet. Then she jumped up and called for everyone. When they gathered she looked at Caleb.

"Rubens says there's trouble."

"What trouble?" he asked. He instantly changed from chilling to worried – the change seemed almost magical.

"_Big _trouble."

Rubens came running. "Caleb!"

"I know."

"Do you know who is it?" Buch asked. He seemed more alive than ever, which kind of took Lexie by surprise.

"No. I can't tell."

"Hey, what's going on," Johnny asked. He was looking around intently. Then he looked at Barry who just shook his head.

The lights in the warehouse went out all at once. Johnny screamed but then Lexie put a hand over his mouth. "I'll kill you if you make another sound." Then she turned to Rubens and Caleb. "What is going on?"

"I don't know yet, I told you. We'll see when they attack."

"When they—" Barry was going out of his mind. He mouthed a loud "What the fuck?!" and then his arms went around Johnny. "Dude…"

"I know, dude!"

Lexie was really confused right now. At least she knew there was a fight coming. No matter what kind of Special Forces were to come, Lexie wasn't going to back down. She slipped away from the group and went to look for her bat, which she conveniently kept under the sofa. She kneeled down and slid her hand under it. There was nothing, nothing, noth—

There it was! But what was…

"Aaaah!" she screamed so loudly that her voice echoed in the entire warehouse. She jerked away from the sofa, clutching the wooden bat, swinging it around and trying to get the _spiders_ off her hand. There were so many of them!

"Lexie!" she heard Caleb's voice and within seconds he was next to her.

"Spiders! There are spiders everywhere!"

When she said the words, everyone started looking around. Then a low sound started. It seemed like people running, a lot of people running from far away. But Lexie knew that there was no way they could hear running like this in the warehouse. And it was way too many feet…

"Caleb," she could barely whisper. "Those are…"

"Spiders," he finished in shock.

"Not just any spiders," Rubens said and swung that huge hammer they'd found before they renovated the warehouse. Then Buch and Rubens finished in unison.

_"Arachne's minions."_


	4. Facing Your Fears: Level Spiders

"Arachne's what?!"

Lexie was out of her mind with worry. If there was something she hated most in the world that was spiders. It's not that she was scared of them. It was just that they were so hard to punch or smash… especially now that they were in such numbers.

"Her servants… all kinds of spiders," Rubens explained. "We need to get out of here before they bury us alive."

"Before they what?!" Johnny and Barry yelled in unison. In the distance Lexiw could swear she heard screeching. Spider screeching, how about that. She felt something on her leg and jerked away.

"Caleb we _really_ need to get out of here!" she hissed and he pulled her back to the rest of the group.

The spiders were visible now; waves of black legs that moved fast, _so fast_, up and down and forward. They were going to _end_ the pack, they were going to suffocate them and crawl all over their insides… Lexie didn't even want to imagine. She just wanted to escape from this hell. She saw how Caleb spread out his hands. Then some sort of violet light appeared on top of his fingertips and illuminated the whole warehouse – even the smallest light shines bright in the darkness. It was the worst possible idea. The second that Johnny and Barry's eyes saw what was coming for them the two of them screamed out from the top of their lungs.

Everything was happening so fast that Lexie had absolutely no time to wonder what the hell that light coming from Caleb's hands was. The spiders were way too many to be normal – they looked like an actual moving rug that was coming towards them and it never ceased. It was like there was a portal opened from Spider Kingdom!

Wait… Lexie knew it. That was probably it. A portal… or something. No, she hit herself on the head, such things don't exist. This is all a huge nightmare. I'll wake up any second.

But her heart was beating fast, her hands were trembling in excitement and she had bit her lower lip so hard that she could taste a little blood in her mouth. This was going to prove an interesting challenge. She'd never fought an army of spiders before.

Then, just as she was about to swing with the baseball bat at the first wave of eight-legged creatures she saw that they stopped and started piling onto each other in a perfect circle around Lexie and her friends. Something was going on here, Lexie knew now that she wasn't dreaming, and it was way out of her reach.

When the spiders piled half a meter there was a violet light that ran through the length of the protective circle. It was the same as the one that had come from Caleb's hands. Lexie looked at him and saw his worried expression and… those eyes of his, now surely flashing in purple, violet and aquamarine.

Something in Lexie's head snapped. She could literally feel it and then instincts and feelings and impressions long forgotten filled her head. She turned around and looked at Rubens and Buch.

"Hey! Think of a way out while Caleb and I think of a way to get rid of the spiders," she said and turned to Johnny and Barry. "You two… stay put, don't do any sudden moves, got it?" The two boys nodded, fear written all over their faces. Then Lexie turned to Caleb. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer. "What have you done to me?"

"What are you…"

"I know that you tampered with my memory. What the fuck did you think would happen?! You thought I'd never find out again?"

"Lexie, I…"

"Caleb, shut up! Know that I'm not through with you and when we get out of here alive, you and I will have a big nice talk, got it?" she was on the verge of madness. Caleb looked at her with an expression filled with sorrow and nodded. She let him go and tried to manage her anger. She looked around again. The spiders were already piled a meter tall. She could see how her home was being torn apart under their feet and little hungry mouths. She wanted to lash out at them so badly that it literally hurt her to stay where she was. But she had to wait – this battle wasn't going to be won like this. She looked at Buch and Rubens at the same time that Caleb talked to them.

"What do you think?"

"The shield will hold, although I don't think the spiders are trying to destroy it," Buch said. He was looking around, his bright green eyes flashing to the left and right in the almost nonexistent light. Rubens was just behind him, inspecting the spiders.

"Yes," he said. "Although they are different kinds of spiders, they aren't trying to attack us. They are simply… here."

"What does that mean?" Lexie asked, her heart beating so hard that she could feel it in her head. "What are they here for?"

The spiders were already piled so high that they were reaching the top of the protective sphere that Caleb had created. They were being sealed in! Lexie felt the urge to bat her way through the disgusting little creatures to the outside. What was going on with her? She'd never remembered feeling so _uncontrollable_… did this have to do with what Caleb had done to her? Probably. Very likely, actually.

"I think," Rubens began, "that their purpose for now was to scare us and see how we'd react. Now that we've found a way to protect ourselves, they might be given new orders."

"Who can order fucking spiders around?!" Johnny cried out.

"Arachne," Buch said and Johnny looked at him through fear-stricken eyes, not understanding who he's talking about. "Mama-spider." That seemed to ring a bell because he grimaced and crawled to a ball on the floor with Barry crouching above him, looking frantically around at the moving spider wall.

Buch looked at Caleb. "What do you think we should do now?"

"I don't—"

He was interrupted by a voice. A woman's voice. It came from somewhere beyond the spiders and it made them all freeze. Every other noise in the warehouse died out and now the six teenagers could only hear the caressing whispers of a woman.

"Well, well, well. I'd say we have ourselves a little feast here…"

Everyone had frozen. Lexie looked around and clutched the bat liwe, higher, then lower again. She was so nervous right now. What was this woman? Could it be her? The master of the spiders?

"I can see a little sphere here, can't I?" the voice was growing closer. Lexie could hear her breathing so loud that it was almost deafening. She could hear Caleb's steady deep and quiet breathing, Buch's fast and shallow yet controlled, Rubens' slow measured breaths, Johnny's scared whimpering and Barry's speedy uneven breathing. It was all so intense to her that she felt like she was going to explode. Every inch of her body ached to move, to run, to fight. She wanted to come out of this sphere and take the monster one on one. Maybe the bigger the spider the easier it is to smash with a bat…

"Oh, yes. A big feast inside, right little ones?" the voice was sickeningly sweet, growing to a level of nausea. "How about we break through that little shield of theirs?"

"Caleb!" Buch hissed. "Put more wards on!"

"Guys! While the spiders are covering us we can escape!" Rubens' eyes were flashing with an idea that Lexie wasn't certain she was going to like. "Caleb, make a tunnel here that will lead us to the outside of the warehouse. We can escape from there."

"It's not safe. If she was smart she'd place guards outside," Lexie said, unsure as to how she knew that. Rubens nodded.

"I'd still face several guards than her and her billions of minions."

"Alright," Caleb said and lifted his hands, making a strange shape with his fingers. His hands lit up in violet and the shield that had been protecting them until now started elongating on one side, making a small corridor. It was bound to be seen by the woman so he made it quickly and walked inside as he continued elongating it towards the exit of the warehouse.

Lexie pushed Johnny and Barry in the tunnel and then tried to make Buch and Rubens but Buch insisted that he go in last. Lexie managed to push him in the tunnel after a burning glance and then Rubens was the only one left. Before they had time to say anything to one another, they heard the woman's piercing laugh.

"Oh, but please! My little pets are trying to escape… how rude!" something happened and then a wave, a whip of spiders lifted up in the air and came crashing down over the tunnel.

BAM!

It was broken. The spiders were everywhere in mere seconds. But before Lexi had time to scream and start smashing them she felt a cold hand over her lips and saw Rubens' grey eyes, telling her to stay quiet and not move. She nodded and the two of them stayed frozen while the spiders crawled up her legs, up her arms, up her body and then all the way to her neck and her head.

Lexie could hear Buch, Johnny and Barry's screams as something moved them from the entrance back to the center and then above – seemed like they were now hanging and yelling. Lexie couldn't listen. She had squeezed her eyes shut and now as she and Rubens were sitting down, clinging to each other, she felt for the first time the terror of the possibility to lose her friends.

Because Caleb was right, just as he always was – this wasn't just some random group of people. These were her friends, her real family. She would do anything to protect them, just as they would do anything to protect her, no matter how much they pretended to not like one another.

Just like that Lexie knew now, that Rubens had done all that with a plan. He had an idea but he couldn't tell her yet, the spiders were still way too many and they moved way too fast for them to be able to speak and not get one in their mouths. So she waited – she endured the excruciating pain of waiting for everything to cool down so that she and Rubens could make their move.

Lexie was shaking. She couldn't help it. The spiders all over her body, tingling with terrifying freedom up and down her body – she couldn't bear that. she clenched her fists, hoping she'd crush a couple of spiders with that and then she gritted her teeth.

"Well, well. That's a shame. There's just three of you! Where might be the rest?" the woman's voice was awful.

"What others?" Buch yelled. "It's just us!"

"Do not lie to me, little satyr!" the woman hissed and the sound was deafening. "Find them!" she ordered and Lexie felt some spiders move around her and above her, heading out.

Three? Wait, the woman had said just three. That meant that Caleb had gotten away! Lexiw was so glad that she could… oh, no wait. She was buried in live spiders she couldn't do a thing without getting herself in danger.

"Now, tell me, satyr. That boy over there, the one who lost consciousness." The woman giggled and one of her legs stretched over and turned Johnny around. The three of them, Johnny, Buch and Barry, were hanging head down on thin cords of spider web. They were tied up with the same cord and it was a pretty scary sight. Much like something from the X-files. "Tell me about him."

Buch was quiet. His lips were pursed tight and he didn't seem like he was going to open them soon. The woman didn't like that. She looked at him and then crawled over to him, her grotesque body moved clumsily, as if she weren't used to it yet. Which was funny – one would think, after more than two thousand years… Arachne lifted her slime-covered hand and gripped Buch's ginger hair. She turned him to one side, then another.

"Talk!" she screamed so hard that every single spider froze. They stayed frozen for a long while.

"No!" Buch wasn't giving up, no matter how scared he was. He had a duty to fulfill and now this monster was not going to break him. He would rather die.

"Well," her voice was pleasant again. It surprised Buch – it was scarier than when she was screaming at him. "Let me see, five demigods and a satyr. Isn't that a sight. What are you doing so far away from home, little ones? Hmm?" She was looking at Barry now but he was too afraid to speak.

"Oh, come on now," she said, caressing his cheek with her disgusting hand. "What is your name, young hero?"

"B-Bartholomew, ma'am," he said with a trembling voice. The woman smiled.

"Well, how about that—"

BAM!

The noise from the hammer hitting Arachne's head reverberated throughout the whole warehouse and to the core of Rubens' very being. The woman-spider twisted and wriggled and then fell completely still and silent. Runebs was breathing hard. All the spiders fell silent again. This time they weren't moving until their mistress woke up and that was going to be a long time from now. Lexie showed up with a knife and carefully tried to climb up to where the three boys' cords were connected to the ceiling but she couldn't reach them. She came back down and Barry looked at her.

"Can't you get me down?" Panic was beginning to stir in his voice. Just before Lexie had to disappoint him, they heard a voice from the entrance of the warehouse.

"How about I try?"

It was Caleb. Lexie had never been gladder to see someone in her life. But then her eyes spotted the blood on his forehead and the cuts on his hands as he lifted them. He conjured a small fireball and sent it up in the air to cut the strings. He came closer and helped cut the ones tying their bodies. Lexie helped with the knife but it wasn't easy at all – the string was pretty resilient.

In the end they had their friends intact – Buch was angry at Arachne but he couldn't do anything about it, Barry looked like he was going to be sick (which he was… twice), and when Johnny woke up his head hurt and when he saw all the spiders and the curled up Arachne, he joined Barry for a puke.

When everyone finally cleared out of the warehouse, leaving all the spiders behind, Lexie let out all the emotions that she'd been keeping until now.

"Okay, what the hell just happened?!" she asked. "Was that really what I think it was? God, of course it was. I can't believe it…" she saw a spider on Rubens and hurried to push it off. "Hey, do I have any spiders left on me?" Rubens had to take out several that had been frozen in her clothes and hair. She shivered when she saw every one of them hit the ground. When she looked up her eyes fell on Caleb's wound again. "Are you okay?"

"It's fine, I'll manage."

"Caleb…"

"Trust me, Rager, I'm fine!" Caleb smiled and turned over to Buch. At that moment, Johnny pushed his way to Caleb and Buch and stared at their faces, not a hint of joke in his eyes. It was probably the first time any of them had seen him this serious, or this scared, or shocked.

"Now, explain to me… what… the hell… was that?!"

Buch and Caleb exchanged glances and then Caleb glanced over to Rubens, who nodded.

"Okay," Caleb said calmly. "Let's go to the park and find a bench. I think you'll want to sit down for this."


	5. Surprise! You Have a God Parent!

"A… a…" Johnny stuttered.

"A demigod?" Barry asked.

Lexie had caught her breath. Everything was completely motionless for a moment and then Barry stood up and made several steps as he ran fingers through his hair. Lexie could just stare ahead. Not in disbelief – she'd passed that stage back when the spiders attacked. And now after Buch's explanation she could only stand and watch as the last pieces of the world she knew disappeared into nothingness.

"So we're demigods. We're the offspring of mortals and gods." Lexie spoke quietly, thinking out loud. "But which gods?"

"As I said, Greek or Roman," Caleb explained. "I have reason to think that all of us are Greek."

"Really?" Johnny looked up. He had calmed down and now he was starting to accept what was happening. He was cracking his knuckles and he was looking nervously from side to side – his eyes never seemed to find where to stop. "What about the rest of the gods? There are quite a lot of pantheons out there, aren't there?"

Lexie looked up at Caleb who glanced at Buch and then the two of them shrugged. It was Rubens who explained though.

"We've never heard of any of them."

"Tell me again how do you know about all this?" Lexie said and all eyes turned to Rubens. He was looking at her with those cool grey eyes of his. Then he looked away.

"My dad would always tell me about my mom. Who she was, how he'd met her. Why she had to leave. I grew up with it so I never had to question if it was the truth or not."

"What happened to him?" Caleb asked.

"He died when some furies attacked us once. It was a big fire and it was bad. The whole building burned down and it was easy to disappear afterwards. Everyone thought I had died in the fire."

"How the hell did you make it?" Johnny asked. "From what they explained the monsters could've killed you since you were all alone, right?" He looked at Caleb and Buch for confirmation and they nodded.

"I… was found by a satyr – Lemony Forester. He… he wanted to get me to that place you talked about but we were just leaving the city when we were attacked again. We hid in my grandfather's house which happened to be nearby but then Lemony ran out and distracted the monsters. I never saw him again." He looked down because of the painful memory. "I was just eleven back then. I continued living with my grandfather until he died two years ago. Now I live with his wife but we have almost nothing in common so there's a mutual agreement: she makes sure Social Services don't get to me and I don't but in her business. It was a blessing when Caleb, Barry and Buch found me."

"But you never realized you were all demigods," Lexie said. "Not until now." Rubens nodded. "So who was your mother again?"

"Athena."

"Athena?!" Johnny exclaimed.

"Yeah."

"Like… the goddess of wisdom, reason and battle strategy?!"

Rubens nodded. Then Caleb looked at Johnny.

"We think that you're either Dionysus's or Demeter's son, but we can't know for sure because you haven't been claimed yet."

Johnny didn't know if he had to be surprised, pleased or shocked and his face showed all three making him look comical; there was nothing comical in the situation though.

"Wait, what about your parents? They must know who your biological mother or father is… that way we can rule out one of the gods since they're a man and a woman," Rubens said but Johnny shook his head.

"Naah. They don't know. No one knows. I was left in front of the door in the orphanage. There was just a note but they could never know if it was written by a man or a woman." He sighed. "Turns out my family is even more broken than I thought."

"Don't worry. Now we just have to get to Camp Half-Blood. We can get all the answers there," Caleb said.

"Camp Half-Blood?" Lexie asked. The name sounded… stupid. But it was catchy. "The place in the woods on Long Island?"

"Yeah. Whatever you may think, those people can help us more than you can imagine." His eyes flashed something like eagerness. Lexie took in a deep breath and nodded when she let it out. She stood up and looked at Caleb and Buch.

"Okay. We should go there. But how?"

Caleb turned to Barry.

"Hey, can you still get us that van?"

The gang had quickly gotten away from the park – both Buch and Rubens had said that it was probably too close to where Arache was and she could be waking up any second now. Rubens was worried that she'd go after them again and told everyone to kill any spider they lay their eyes on – they never knew which one would be her spy. Lexie liked the idea but Barry, who just wanted to get Arachne and her minions out of his head, felt like screaming.

They'd decided to go to the city center and from there to figure out what to do to get to New York. On the way, Caleb told Barry and Rubens to go and see what they can do about the van. He told them they'd be waiting in their favourite diner. So as Caleb, Lexie, Buch and Johnny sat on a table in the back they couldn't get themselves to touch either the drinks or the food.

"Okay. I'm fine with everything that you're telling me," Lexie started when the silence became a little too much to bear. "What I can't understand is why all those monsters didn't attack us earlier. You said before that any demigod is like a walking meal for them. How come they never noticed us? There is what, six of us, and we were never attacked?"

"Five," Buch said.

"What?"

"Five of you. I'm not a demigod." Buch smiled and Lexie remembered that he was a satyr – half man, half goat. It was too weird to get used to.

"Right, sorry. But that doesn't change anything. The five of us are supposed to be like a super-five-times-stronger monster magnet, aren't we?"

"Yes but I concealed our energies and made the _mist_ around us denser," Caleb explained. "It worked but Arachne must've been powerful enough to sense the cloaking... "

"…And come after us," Lexie finished. Everything made sense. "Whose kid are you again?"

"No idea. When I went to Camp Half-Blood the gods hadn't agreed to claim their children by the age of 13 yet so I stayed in Hermes's cabin, the one where all the unclaimed kids go. But when I was there I realized I could do stuff. Like… crazy stuff," he said and Lexie got the strange feeling that this _stuff_ wasn't necessarily good. "I ran away before I found out who I really was."

"Alright, so no one knows whose kid they are except Rubens. That's underwhelming," Johnny said.

At that moment Barry went into the diner, almost breaking the door off its hinges. Every single head in the place turned towards him and he just stared, not daring to move a muscle. But when he saw his gang in the back he waved for them to follow him and ran outside. There was a moment of complete silence and then the four teens jumped from the table and ran outside without even thinking of leaving any money on the table.

It all happened too fast for the waitress to have any time to react (And, please! Who can catch four hyperactive gang teens that are also the children of gods…? I didn't think so) and she just stared and raised a hand as they disappeared from the diner.

"I am so fired…" she sighed and looked at the untouched food on their table.

Outside Caleb, Johnny, Lexie and Buch ran after Barry who turned around a corner and showed them an old hippy van. On the driver's seat was a restless Rubens who smiled as they climbed in. Johnny seemed overwhelmed – it was the first time he smiled since Arachne's attack.

"This is so cool!" he shouted and Barry hissed at him to be quiet as he climbed up and shut the door behind him.

"Okay, drive!" he said to Rubens and they were off. No one stopped them in the city and only after they got to Interstate 95 everyone could let out their breath and relax, even if it was only for a short while.

"Okay now you need to tell me why we were in such a hurry to get out of town," Caleb looked at Barry accusingly and Barry shrugged.

"It was nothing really." All eyes turned to him with annoyed, untrusting expressions.

"Dude, that's like telling us you saw the Hulk skipping on the beach in a ballerina tutu. Come on." Johnny sat back and nodded at his friend. "Tell us."

"Well, we took it from a black car market…"

"_Stole_ it," Johnny corrected.

"Dude, you can't steal it if it's already stolen. We _took _it from this friend of mine after our friend here proved himself a real son of Athena."

"He did what?" Caleb asked. Lexie leaned forward and looked first at Barry, then at Rubens who was ignoring her, pretending to be concentrating on the road. She smiled.

"What did you do, Ru?" she asked slyly. She knew he hated when she called him that.

"Oh, he just singlehandedly knocked out every single guard in the place." Barry laughed and all eyes turned to Rubens in surprise. As they congratulated him, Barry continued, "Yeah, after that we just got in the van and drove off. Has a full tank too, how about that?"

"Won't they be coming after us?" Buch asked and everyone grew quiet.

"How would they do that Buch?" Barry asked, sounding annoyed. "This isn't exactly an expensive car. Not to mention that they can't just call the police." He grinned as he always did after a successful theft. "We are on the road, baby!"

"Hell yeah, baby!" Johnny chimed in to the joyous cheering and yelling and shouting.

They were on their way to New York now. It was 11:42 p.m. and they were feeling… _invincible_!


	6. Bumps on the Interstate

Okay so maybe they weren't really invincible.

Two peaceful, calm hours had gone by in which the five demigods had time to ask Caleb, Rubens and Buch anything they could think of. Buch had grown tired of the human shoes and the long pants so he took them off. It wasn't really the greatest idea since no one except Caleb and Rubens had seen an actual satyr before and the looks he got were ones of both surprise and disbelief (Johnny was even a little creeped out) but soon their hyperactive minds got over the fur and hooves and concentrated on more important things. Like who their parents might be, what powers they had, why they were all dyslexic (which they found out about one another just now), what their hyperactivity and anger management issues meant… all the basic demigod stuff, as Caleb had said.

"Hey, this place, Camp Half-Blood, what kind of place is it _exactly_?" Lexie asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Well, as I said before, it's a place for people like us," Caleb said but Lexie shook her head. She already knew that.

"No, I meant… what do we _do_ there?"

"Oh, well, we train. We get to learn to fight with different weapons; we get to go on quests, we—"

He didn't get to finish because the van shook uncontrollably for a moment before Rubens turned the wheel and pulled over. Everyone stepped out in shock and Rubens and Barry went around to check the tires. Bad luck – two of them were flat.

"Oh come on!" Barry screamed. "This can't be happening to us right now!"

"You're right, it can't," Caleb said and he sounded way too serious. Lexie felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Her hands rolled into fists and she felt the familiar urge, the itch, to beat someone up. Caleb was right. There was trouble, Lexie could smell it.

"Be alert, everyone," she said and Caleb looked at her and nodded. He seemed to like this new Lexie who was able to foresee dangers. She couldn't help but tremble at the violet flashes in his eyes.

While everyone was looking around and the cars were passing them by, Buch was sniffing the air. Just before he warned everyone that he had caught something, Lexie felt a cold chill run down the left side of her back, the one that was turned towards the field. But the chill wasn't a freezing one – it gave her body even more energy and made every muscle ready for battle. She knew there was going to be battle and it felt more than exciting. Her eyes flashed and her lips curved into a smile.

That's when Rubens saw something in the fields next to the interstate.

"Heads up!" he pointed at the _thing_, it was too dark to make it out but it was clear that there was something moving there. Something dangerous and something that was headed straight for them. Lexie wanted to jump out and lash out at it but she knew she might be in for a beating (as much as she hated to admit it); the _thing _could turn out to be way more powerful than her.

She crouched, ready to jump at any time and that's when she heard Rubens.

"Caleb, make a shield around us. Johnny and Buch should get in the van, now. Barry, find something to wield – we're in for a fight."

Lexie smiled. "Listen, I think Barry should also get in the van. He's a thief and a runner but he's no fighter."

"Listen to her Barry. Get in the van and make sure to protect Johnny and Buch if anything comes through," Caleb said and his hands light up in that same purple light that Lexie had seen back in the warehouse. She saw the circle around them shine for a moment and then disappear (probably becoming invisible).

"Hey! I am the protector here, I want to fight!" Buch shouted as Barry was pushing him and Johnny towards the van. Johnny seemed as unhappy about it as Buch was.

"Yeah! I want to fight too! I'm not as helpless as you think I am! You're talking to a brown belt ju-jitsu master!"

"I thought masters had black belts," Barry teased.

"Shut up! I quit because I didn't like the coach. He always yelled at me for twisting the techniques in my own style," Johnny said in self-defense. He saw Barry's look and added, "That did _not_ mean I didn't win almost every fight!" He smiled. "I just had way too much energy for them to handle."

Something, a twig, broke in the distance and everything grew quiet. The _thing_, whatever it was, had stopped moving and now Lexie could barely make out its silhouette in the darkness. She caught her breath. It wasn't _one_ thing. They were at least _three!_

"Rubens," she said quietly but he had already seen it. He stood next to her and shouted at the _things_.

"Hey! Who are you and what do you want?"

"Yeah, and why did you flatten our tires!" Johnny added and Barry slapped him in the back of the neck, shushing him. "Ouch!" he hissed in return.

"Well, well, well…" a female voice said from the distance. It wasn't like Arachne's. It was way more… seductive. Lexie was instantly alert – this one was going to be different. "What do we have here, sisters?"

"Oh, I smell fresh, fresh demigod meat, sister," another voice said. Just as seductive as this one but more high-pitched. And then there was a third.

"Well, I think we are in for a feast, my sisters." This one was deeper and it felt more powerful than the others. There were just three and this was the leader. There was no doubt. "Hello, boys," she said and the three of them came closer. They were illuminated by the lights of the passing cars and now Lexie could see them for what they really were…

…which was three excruciatingly hot chicks. Even Lexie felt something deep inside her stir at the sight of the women but she pushed it away. She wasn't changing teams for those three! But she couldn't say the same for the boys around her. Buch and Johnny were already in a daze and Barry was looking at the girls, not sure if he should believe they were real or not. Caleb and Rubens were the only ones who were still sane and Lexie had the bad feeling that this wouldn't be for long. She cursed in her mind.

"They're…" Rubens started slowly but Caleb was the one to finish.

"Empusae."

"What does that mean?" Lexie hurried to ask. She had to know what she was going to be fighting against.

"They're… vampire chicks," Caleb said and Lexie had a sickening feeling in her stomach but something came into her mind out of nowhere.

Empusae. An extremely beautiful female race that feasted on the blood and flesh of men. She looked down and saw a bronze leg on each one of them. Heh, figures. Where else would they be nowadays than the side of the road? But they were really beautiful – they didn't have tons of makeup and they weren't wearing cheap-looking clothes. They were tall and dressed in expensive leather, cotton and silk clothes all in dark colors such as black, deep red or purple. All of them had dark lips, blazing red eyes and amazing hair – the first one had short messy fiery orange hair, the second one's reached a little under her shoulders and went from an orangey blonde to a bright red, the third woman's hair was long, straight and blood red.

When they laid their eyes on Lexie the one in the middle snorted.

"Hah! And what is that supposed to be? Entertainment?"

This time Lexie couldn't stop herself she jumped towards the woman, fist first, before Caleb could shout at her to stay inside the barrier. It was too late now. Lexie was fast, she knew how to fight and she had taken the woman by surprise. Her fist was almost in her face when Lexie felt strong arms taking hold of her shoulders and back and in seconds the ground smashed in her face with incredible force. She coughed some dirt and realized what had happened.

The two girls had buried their claws in her shoulders and had pushed her down faster than she had thought possible. Now the woman crouched and looked at Lexie with an amused smile.

"Stupid little _female_," she said, as if it were an actual insult. "You shouldn't have done that. Now. Since we can't drink you up, we will have you watch as your friends are being drained to the last drop."

Lexie grunted and straightened her head enough so that she could answer.

"You touch them and I'll kill you, _leech_!"

It must've struck a nerve because the woman raised a hand and slapped it into Lexie's cheek with such force that she felt the burning for a while, as well as a metallic taste in her mouth. _Mistake, leech_, she thought. _You're asking for it now. _

But the two other women were holding her down with incredible force. She couldn't move yet and she decided to keep her strength for later. Right now they wouldn't touch her and Caleb's shield was still up… she hoped.

The leader of the _empusae_ stepped forward. She was silent but her bronze foot was the one making the little noises. She stood right at the edge of the shield and Caleb looked at her with a mixture of alert and admiration. He conjured the _magic_ again and his hands were covered by the violet light. It shone strangely on the woman, who just looked as if she was enjoying this more than she expected.

"Ha!" she laughed and turned to look at her sisters. "Now there's something you don't see every day." She turned back to Caleb. "Sisters, say hello to our little brother."


	7. Fighting Miss World

"Your little _what?!_"

Caleb took a step backwards in shock. The woman laughed at his expression. Rubens had been ready to jump at the woman but this had taken him by surprise. It had taken all of them by surprise. Even the _empousai _holding Lexie down. Johnny stared at his friend in disbelief.

"You're a vampire?!" he asked in a mix of shock and disgust.

"What? No!" Caleb said and his violet eyes went from the laughing woman to Johnny, then to Rubens and back. "No! Are you insane!?"

"Very good question, little brother," the _empousa_ said and looked at Johnny. "_Are _you insane, little demigod? Because insane blood tastes different, you know. I don't want to ruin my diet."

Johnny wanted to scream.

"What do you mean 'your little brother'," Rubens demanded and the woman studied him for a moment before she flipped her long hair.

"Ha… well," she started but she was interrupted by Lexie who had somehow managed to get her face out of the dirt.

"It's Hecate! She's the mother of the _empousai_ and she's apparently also Caleb's mother," she said with great effort since the two _empousai_ on top of her were still pushing her down.

"Hecate…" Caleb breathed and looked at his blazing hands. _It made so much sense… _

"Now," the leader said and suddenly Johnny, Barry and Buch were under her spell – their eyes were half closed, with dreamy smiles on their faces, looking as if they will collapse any second.

"Barry!" Lexie tried to scream but the fire-haired _empousa_ shoved her head in the dirt.

Rubens could only stare helplessly. His body, why the hell wouldn't it move as he wanted it to?! He cast a sideways glance at Caleb who was still too shocked and then at Barry but he was hopeless too. His only option was to surprise the leader and when the other two came to help, Lexie would be free and she could help him defeat them…

With every ounce of willpower he had, he made his body jump at the woman with long bloody hair. He had almost grabbed her but—damn! She was too fast! She moved back, grabbed Rubens by the back of his shirt and bashed him into the ground.

For a moment the whole world was spinning and his chest was burning with both pain and the lack of oxygen. How the hell was this possible?! He'd made all the calculations—oh, right. She was a freaking _vampire!_ She was too fast!

The _empousa_ crouched beside him and licked her lips noisily as he fought for air. A part of him was so attracted to her that he couldn't help but enjoy her touch and the heat from her body… hey! Shut the hell up! She's the effing enemy – I have to free Lexie and beat her ass!

It seemed to work – the very thought of Lexie's name took him out of the trance. Something made him grab some soil and throw it at the woman. She hissed and let him go as she jerked back. Well, well, well, how about _that_?

"You,'' she growled at Rubens.

Slowly, still in pain he stood up with another handful of dirt. "What about me, _leech?_" Oh, yeah. He'd heard Lexie a moment ago; he knew perfectly well how much the women hated being called that.

The leader jumped at him with a hiss and he instinctively threw the dirt in her face. She hissed again, this time in agony.

"Let me guess," he said, absolutely enjoying himself. "You don't like getting dirty?"

"You filthy little—"

"Sorry then. You're not my type," he said finally. At that moment several things happened at the same time making it look like an explosion of movements.

Lexie jumped up, surprising her keepers, and with a very swift, very fluid and simple movement, she knocked out one of the _empousai_ with an elbow. Rubens could swear he heard the creature's neck break. As the second one jumped at Lexie, Rubens saw his friend turn and lift her leg, placing it into the woman's chin. That made her stumble back and gave Lexie enough time to straighten up and crack her neck – oh, _now_ things were getting serious. No matter how strong the _empousa _was, she was definitely in for a beating.

On the other side was Caleb, who had come out of his trance—Aah, _finally!_—and was throwing fireballs at the leader _empousa_ who was dodging like a professional. For a moment Rubens stood still and then he jumped towards the leader, managing to grab her in a bear hug… but not to knock her down afterwards. She stood there glaring, as her teeth elongated, her face turned into an animalistic scowl and the ends of her hair started curling up. Suddenly there was an aura of power and malice all around her—and it _burned!_ Rubens couldn't say he was surprised but it was a pretty awful sensation… being burned by an aura.

He jumped back, releasing her and now that he looked at her, all the attraction from before disappeared. She had become taller, her muscles bulged and her features were getting demonic. Rubens literally saw two sharp dark red horns explode out of her skull. She was covered by a translucent reddish glow that curved around her like fire.

Behind her, her sister got distracted and Lexie took the opportunity to knock her out cold. Now there was one crazy vampire chick turning into a monster, and two more unconscious. What a nice way to start a journey…

"Now, you will pay, little demigods," the _empousa_ said and Rubens felt like he was hearing two synchronized voices saying the same words. One was the woman's and the other was a demon's – very deep and very non-lady-like. The monster lifted its—now clawed—hands up in the air and between its fingers a dark red sphere started to form.

At that moment Lexie jumped her.

Rubens wasn't sure if it was the braves or the most absolutely _stupid_ thing Lexie has ever done in her life. She had curled her legs around the creature's waist and had put an arm around its neck. With the other arm Lexie was trying to break off one of the horns.

The creature roared. It was a roar that paralyzed Rubens and every nerve in his body electrified. Then he was numb and in shock – he could only watch as Lexie continued beating at the monster, as if unaffected. Her eyes were blazing even brighter than the _empousa's_ aura.

And then she did it – the horn came off in Lexie's hand. The screams of the monster grew into one long, deafening wail that made everyone fall to their knees. The vibrations were so powerful that they made Rubens's body burn—he felt like everything inside him was trying to burst out of his skin…

But no… they had to beat the monster. He looked up and saw golden ooze coming out of the hole in the creature's forehead. Lexie was looking at the horn in her hand with unhidden fascination – there was something almost unnatural about her at that moment. But Rubens couldn't think about that now. Lexie had to stay away now so he turned to Caleb.

"Caleb… do… something," he managed to get out and saw Caleb nod and lift his hands with tremendous effort. The violet light came back as bright as ever and then it shot out at the _empousa. _

And then she froze.

She was completely frozen. Her aura had disappeared and her screams had ceased. She cracked as if she was covered in invisible ice.

It was so… quiet al of a sudden. Rubens's ears were going to start ringing any second now but at least the numbness and the vibrations' aftereffects were going away. He stood up and looked at the one-horned monster.

"How's that for a bunch of _little demigods, _huh?" Rubens asked the frozen _empousa. _"Fucking bitch," he added in disgust.

"Heh," Lexie smiled as she came closer. I couldn't have said it better myself.

Now Rubens managed to get a good look at her. And he was left baffled—there wasn't a single scratch on Lexie's skin and she looked more vigorous than ever.

"Lexie, are you," he started and she looked at him with a smile.

"Yup! Never better!"

Then her eyes caught Caleb, who was barely managing to stand up. She jumped forward to help him.

"Thanks," he said.

"I think we should tie them up in the van and question them when they wake up," Lexie said. Then Caleb shook his head.

"No way," he said and nodded at Johnny, Buch and Barry who were just coming out of their love-trance. "I don't know about you but I want these ones alive at the end of the journey…"

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!" Barry screamed when his eyes saw the _empousa's _real form. He looked so disgusted and afraid that it was funny and Lexie couldn't help but giggle for a moment. Then she noticed Rubens's intrigues glance and stopped.

"Shut up," she smiled and Rubens couldn't help but smile.

At that moment something happened that none of them were expecting. One of the knocked out _empousai _woke up and looked at them. No one noticed her until she screamed at them and at the sight of her frozen sister. Then with the speed of light she headed straight for the van, straight for Johnny…

…and then everything burst into flames. The _empousa_ had disappeared.

But so had Johnny.


	8. Why They Call Lexie 'Rager'

Buch shouted as he scrambled back away from the fire and when it disappeared he stared at the empty space in disbelief. Barry hurried to put out any leftover flames so that the van didn't explode and when he was finished he turned around, sitting down on one of the seats, and faced his friends.

There was one frozen and one knocked out _empousa. _The other one had disappeared. Barry was just about to sigh in relief when he counted only four friends. He counted again but he wasn't there.

"Guys?" he started, "Wh-where's Johnny?" his voice was quivering with worry and growing panic.

"She… she took him when she disappeared," Rubens said quietly, his eyes full of confusion. He turned to Caleb and to Buch, "Is that even possible?!"

"I…" Buch trembled. He started blinking fast and a lot. "I didn't think they could but… apparently…"

Lexie had been admiring the horn in her hand when Johnny had been engulfed by the flames. Now she was staring from the place where he stood to one _empousa_, then to the other. She wasn't consumed by shock and fear and panic like the rest of her friends. Something much deeper and darker was starting to well up inside of her.

She gritted her teeth and walked over to the frozen _empousa_ her muscles were tense, ready for action and as Rubens asked something and Buch was stuttering, she stood directly in front of the monster, tightening her grip on the horn. Then with a single swift movement she thrust it into the _empusa's _ chest.

Everything went silent for a moment and a jolt like electricity went through Lexie. Then the monster exploded into golden dust with one last wail. The horn fell to the ground, covered in golden ooze. Lexie, grim-faced and pissed-off but full of violent energy, took the horn and walked over to the knocked out _empousa_ who was just waking up. She screamed when she saw the last bits of golden dust in the air, a scream that made the boys tremble and cover their ears, but Lexie kept walking. The _empousa's _eyes darted to Lexie and she was just about to lash out at her when she saw the horn in her hand. She froze and stared in horror as Lexie caught her by the shirt and put the sharp end of the horn to her neck.

Lexie ignored her friends who were talking to her, yelling at her, convincing her to do something, trying to get her attention, and looked right in the eyes of the shocked and horrified monster.

"You are coming with us," she said in a low, very threatening voice. "And you're not going to make a sound. You will tell me where your _sister_ took my friend and only then will I consider not killing you. Got that?"

The _empousa_ winced at every word. Now she gulped and answered: "Y-yes."

"Good," Lexie said and pulled her up. Then they walked towards the van as the boys stared in shock.

Rubens couldn't believe this was happening. He'd gotten used to the idea of being chased around by monsters but seeing what ruthlessness Lexie was capable of was way out of his comfort zone. He'd always known she was the aggressive, violent type but this had crossed all boundaries – she was consumed by absolute rage now. _Heh, I guess _'Rager'_ fits you just fine after all_, he thought as she came with the other _empousa. _Her face was cold and angry, her teeth were gritted and her eyes were burning with an unfamiliar darkness. He couldn't help but take a step back as she walked past him and pushed the _empousa_ in the van.

Caleb must've noticed it too because he reached for her.

"Lexie," he said timidly. "Are you okay?"

Was it hearing his voice or his touch, Rubens wasn't certain but for a moment Lexie was Lexie again. She looked at Caleb and blinked.

"First they flatten our tires, then they threaten to drink your blood and make me watch, then they take Johnny to god-knows-where and you expect me to be okay with it?"

Caleb looked down. She was right. Rubens was suddenly overwhelmed by the truth of her words.

"She's right," Barry said. "No way are we standing here, when we can find out where Johnny is. We need to save him no matter what."

"Absolutely," Rubens said. He cast a glance at Caleb, with his hurt expression, and Lexie, with her unwavering determination. "Do we have spare tires?" he asked.

While Rubens and Barry were changing the tires, Caleb and Lexie had time to question the _empousa. _The problem was that she wasn't that keen on cooperating. Would you be? After someone _killed your sister_ and your other sister managed to _escape_ with some of _what you came for_? No? Thought so.

"Tell me something. You work for Hecate, right?" Caleb said and tried to ignore the look on the redhead's face. She was so pretty that he was afraid it would cloud his judgment… even though she was technically his half-sister. "Then why attack us after you knew I was your brother?"

Lexie was looking at her intently and the redhead cast an uncertain glance at her first, before she turned back to Caleb. "What does it matter? Maybe Nerissa would've let you go in the end… but now she's dead. I hope Krissi finishes your friend as soon as possi—"

She was interrupted by a slap from Lexie. "Don't waste my time, _leech_," she hissed at the _empousa_, who growled and hissed at the insult.

"When I get out… even though I can't drink your blood, I'll make you bleed to death and watch you, _demigoddess_," she said through gritted teeth.

"Hey!" Caleb snapped at her before Lexie could slap her again. "Focus!" He looked at Lexie, then at the redhead. "Look, what we're doing right now is for mutual benefit."

This seemed to catch the _empousa's _attention. But Lexie seemed no less surprised…

"What are you talking about," she whispered at him and he gave her a look that told her to be quiet and let him do the talking. _Good cop, bad cop. Remember? _

"We take you to your sister, and she gives us our friend back. How does that sound to you?"

Barry was working on the screws on the second tire and he was working as thoughtlessly as he could. It was just too creepy to have to remember Lexie's face when she stabbed the sexy lady in the chest. She had been… _very_ scary. He loved her; he did, like a real sister but she had looked colder and more distant than ever before. No, wait. Now that he thought about it, it wasn't the first time he'd seen her like that.

He remembered one time three years ago—Lexie hadn't been in the gang yet—when they still went to the same elementary school. They weren't friends then but everyone knew who she was. No one dared to say anything to her in fear they'd get their asses kicked and so she always stayed alone. Barry found her very interesting and sometimes he'd just follow her around just for the fun of it. One time he saw her after school in an alley with some street gang. Barry knew those guys—they often robbed supermarkets and beat people up for money—he knew to stay away from them. But now Lexie was surrounded and she was in for a beating, a robbing and probably something much worse than that (really, seven large guys against a thirteen-year-old girl). The moment one of them touched her she went all out. Three of them were driven to the ER afterwards with severe fractures, hemorrhages and concussions, two only had a few broken bones, one had his ear ripped off and a couple of missing teeth and the last one managed to escape with just a bruise the size of Texas on the side of his stomach. And after all of that there wasn't even a scratch on Lexie; her knuckles were flawless and she didn't even break a sweat. But Barry remembered her face while she beat up the gang—it was the same ruthless, unforgiving, cold face she had now.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?"

"Huh?" Barry looked up and saw Rubens standing over him with a worried smile on his face.

"You know that screw can't be screwed any harder. What's on your mind?"

"You mean, besides everything that's happened?" Barry laughed but it was a sad, empty laugh.

"Yeah."

"I was just thinking of Lexie," he said, uncertain as to why he'd tell the truth. _I guess it wouldn't hurt_, he thought. _He's from the gang. I won't tell him anything important anyway… _"She… She's had that stone-cold face only once before and it was a pretty gruesome sight afterwards." Rubens looked at him as if he'd said Lexie was a psycho serial killer on the loose with a split personality. "Dude! Don't be so freaked out, she just beat up a couple of guys twice her size. No one was killed or anything."

Rubens helped Barry up. He turned around.

"Hey, I'll just go check this for a sec."

"Sure, I'll come with. It was pretty weird, the way she died," Barry said, trying to be calm.

Rubens crouched and looked at the disappearing golden dust for a moment. Barry grimaced.

"Imagine having to explode into golden dust every time you died."

"Well, it wasn't her first time and I suppose it won't be her last," Rubens said.

"What?" Barry looked at his friend and then back at the dust. Then he laughed (a little hysterically, to be honest) and took a step back from both the gold dust and Rubens.

"She's a monster. Lemony—the satyr I met—explained that all monsters went to Tartatus when they died and then took some time to regenerate and came back."

"Phew…"

Rubens looked at him with confusion.

"Oh, come on! She was sexy!" he said in self-defense. "Who knows, I might be able to convince her to date me without drinking my blood."

There was a moment of silence and then the two boys laughed. It was genuine and it was what they needed to take the edge off now that everything was going from bad to worse.

"Hey, do you think that it's real gold?" Barry asked, sneaking a peek at the dust. Rubens didn't know if he should be serious or laugh.

"What the hell, man?!"

"I don't know. It just crossed my mind that I could sell it…"

"Dude!" Rubens said and punched him in the shoulder.

"Ow!" Barry said and rubbed where Rubens had punched him.

"I wish Johnny was here right now. He'd have something funny to say…" Rubens said quietly and every trace of the peace he'd had a moment ago was gone.

Barry wasn't sure how to react. He was going to do everything he could to save his friend; there was no doubt about that. But to do that he needed a concentrated and sober Rubens.

"Hey! Don't you pity him! He's probably having the time of his life in a house full of amazingly hot and sensual chicks! I wouldn't say the same for you or me!"

He hoped it would be enough to lighten the mood. But Rubens was right—Johnny would've done such a better job…

"Hey! Come on! We have a location," Caleb called from the van and Rubens was up in a heartbeat.

"C'mon," he said to Barry as he helped him up.

"Hey are you sure it's not pure gold…"

"Barry!"

"But—"

Barry looked at Rubens who was already walking towards the driver's seat. Then he glanced at the gold dust and he just couldn't help himself.

"Barry!" Rubens called from the other side of the van.

"Coming!" he scooped up what was left of it and put it in an empty bag he found in his pocket. Then he turned around and raised his fists up in the air.

"WOO HOOO! LET'S GO SAVE JOHNNY'S ASS, BITCHESS!"

If that wasn't spirit-lifting, he didn't know what was…


	9. Johnny and the House of Chicks

Johnny took a deep breath and smiled. He didn't remember the warehouse smelling so sweet, so… sexy.

"Well, Lexie, have you finally decided to give in to your feminine side and stop acting like dude?" he murmured as he turned. It was warm and the light was dim but what made him open his eyes was the giggling. The giggling that came from more than one pair of lips.

He sharply opened his eyes and waited for a moment as they focused. Then he rubbed them. Then he rubbed them again. And again. Hey, was he even awake? Because what he was seeing was nothing like the warehouse, or the people in the warehouse,_ or anything connected to the freaking warehouse. _

He was in a room full of breathtakingly hot girls. And they were all looking at him.

He gulped loudly and smiled, trying to make himself look presentable.

"Well, hello ladies," he said as he'd rehearsed so many times inside his head. It sounded awesome and when the girls giggled again he felt a little calmer. He had this. He most _definitely_ had this.

"So you're awake, huh?" a girl sighed from the far corner of the room and when Johnny looked at her, he saw a strangely familiar face – short, messy, fiery orange hair and blood red eyes. Beautiful beyond comparison. Tall and sexy… oh yeah, he remembered her all right—

—wait, what?! WHAT!? That was… she was… she was coming at him on the interstate… and then… then she burst in flames!

"Whoa!" he shouted when realized what was going on and scrambled backwards to the bedpost. "Lady! What the fuck?!"

Now the girls were laughing. It was so obvious that they had been playing him a moment before. But he wasn't stupid; he knew when he was being played… Then why hadn't he noticed…

Oh, right. Vampires and their tricks.

Vampires. _Fuck me… _

He was in trouble.

"Well, I'm sorry but I took you by mistake," the vampire with spikey fiery hair said with a cunning smile. "I just wanted my fire to make your crappy van explode."

"Hey!"

"What?" she smiled and he almost forgot what he was going to say.

"It _is _a crappy van, but it's _our_ crappy van! You don't get to insult it."

There were laughs now but they weren't directed at him which was a kind of progress. It gave him the will to stay positive. Maybe he could work his way to stay alive.

"Wow, Krissi, you sure know how to pick 'em," one of the girls said and Krissi the Kidnaping Vampire snorted. "I like him. Can I try him?"

"No. He is here because his damned little friends killed Nerissa."

A lot of head turned sharply toward Johnny. Sadly most of them were angry and predatory. He gulped loudly yet again.

"Now they will come to take him back and we'll have ourselves a little feast." Krissi the Kidnaping Vampire smiled viciously and walked out of the room. The rest of the vampire chicks followed and Johnny was left alone in the room.

His breathing felt way too loud and annoying. But wait… was it just him or was there no lock on the door?

Johnny stood up and slowly, very slowly and carefully approached the exit. He looked at it, then he sniffed at it. When he came even closer he touched it. Nothing happened. Suddenly all the movies he'd seen with his nerdy foster sister came back to him—all the mysteries and spy movies. He remembered how his favourite action chicks, _Charlie's Angels_, always check for lasers and he did so too. No lasers here. Pfft. This place was boring.

He opened the door and stepped through…

…only to find himself looking at an enormous room full of even more hot girls. They all turned to him and some even urged him to come closer. A huge part of him wanted to. But there was also another part that slapped him on the neck: _Yo! Stupid little idiot! Focus now, you wanna lose your life? Put yourself together! These ones here aren't good for anything; you should see some real nymphs, now those babes… _Johnny made the voice shut up and shook his head to sober up.

"So," he said, trying to stop his voice from trembling. "You're all vampires then?"

Some of the girls laughed, the rest of them just looked at him in mixtures of disbelief and amusement. One of the closer ones stood up from her couch and walked over to him. She was tall and had the perfect curves in all the right places. She looked like a Native princess or something, dark olive skin, almond-shaped eyes and jet black hair that fell shining to her waist. She took a look at Johnny, some kind of evaluation maybe, and then leaned with one arm on the wall, centimeters from his head. Her face came very close, dangerously close to his. When she spoke her breath smelled like daisies and sex (if there was even a combination like that). It made Johnny's knees weak and his mind was all cloudy again (_Oh, come on! You can't really be that useless, can you?_).

"Darling, you might be getting some sort of special treatment but don't you go around insulting us."

"Insulting? Who is insulting you? I was just asking a damn question!" Johnny _had _been only asking a question. And special treatment?! Wasn't he a prisoner until his friends came to save him and they feasted on their blood? Was this chick crazy?

His words made her move back a little and he slipped out of her reach. He turned his back to her and looked at the rest of the room. Now was the time to be wild, wasn't it? And since he was going to die anyway, he should at least do it the right way.

"Well, ladies. I apologize if I offended any of you," he said loudly and got everyone's attention. "Apparently I am a simple, uneducated and careless guy who is counting the minutes of life until the moment his blood will turn to a feast for the beautiful vampires. Excuse my ignorance but I was certain that there were no other creatures of beauty."

Well, even he hadn't expected to say anything like that. It was cunning and sounded sophisticated enough to interest the girls. It had come from somewhere deep in his mind, from a place that he usually ignored, unless it was about his plants in Granny D.'s house. He loved the orchard and the flowers and all the rest of the plants in the little backyard garden and he was overjoyed when Granny D. taught him how to grow his own plants. She was furious though when she found out he was growing weed last year… but she didn't take it from him—it was a pretentious plant and it was hard to grow and she had congratulated him in succeeding. Johnny missed his Granny D. right now. She was so much like him, an outcast, different from the family. He'd found the real parent in her and now he wanted to see her shut these girls' faces up. Oh yeah, she'd make them suffer if she knew he was in any kind of trouble…

"Why do you look so familiar," a girl asked with long wavy chestnut hair braided with flowers. She looked at some of her friends, also with flowers in their hair like tiaras. They nodded. "Who are you, boy?" she asked him afterwards.

"Um, John, Johnny Morgenstern," he said. Morgenstern was his real family name, the one that was all he'd had with him when he was left on the doorstep of the orphanage—just a writing on the blanket that had washed away with time. "And I'm not a boy!" What was that word that Caleb and Buch used? Oh, right. "I'm a demigod if you wish to know."

"Yes, I _know_ that. I was asking about your parent."

"Here, my dear, I am just as clueless as you are finding yourself to be." Okay, this language was getting weird. It wasn't at all like Johnny to talk like that… so why was he? _Shut up and be grateful 'cuz it just might save your crazy ass. _

The girl turned to her friends wide-eyed. "Could it be _him?_" she whispered. "The hair, the silver tongue, those vigorous eyes… _could_ it be _his_ son?"

"Whose son?" Johnny asked. He really wanted to know and if those girls knew…

But they just looked at him with intent gazes, studying him from head to toe. Every single girl in the room was staring at him—he felt completely naked. But he stood tall and proud. He even allowed himself a little challenging smile and a wink or two. Where they'd come from? Heh, the voice of course! Where else?

The girls seemed to like that. All right, he could play the cocky demigod with the badass dad that those girls admired so much. He walked over to the girl with the flowers in her hair and touched her forearm very gently. He kept quiet at first and then he whispered.

"Tell me now. Whose son do you think I am?"

It won her over. It won all of them over. There was a collective sigh and cheers and the girl threw her arms around him. (Which most definitely took him by surprise.)

"Oh! We have waited for you for so long!" she sighed in relief. She was just as tall as he was so she spoke directly into his ear very quietly. "You have to help us, young lord! You have to free us!"

Okay. That… was a definite surprise now.


	10. A Rescue or a Suicide Mission

Half an hour.

Half an hour passed until Lexie felt like herself again.

but during that half-hour she had been _powerful_. No. More than that… she'd been _invincible. _

Now she was sitting in the van next to Caleb. He was looking out the window in the moving darkness. She looked at him. It had been as though she didn't even know he was there. How was that possible? She could usually feel him miles away… _Caleb, why couldn't I feel you before, _she thought.

"What?" he said turning to her. Lexie was a bit startled for a moment and then shook her head.

"No, nothing…"

The _empousa_ in the front seat snorted and shook her head in amusement. Lexie hit the back of her seat. "Shut up!"

Lexie leaned back and tried to relax but her mind whirled around that single thought: _ I only became aware of him just now…_ She wasn't certain what exactly had happened to her when she saw Johnny being taken. She knew she was really, _really_ angry, she'd been able to feel real _rage_ coursing through her veins, she had felt the instinct to kill. And she had killed.

The realization struck her like a cold splash. Her hands felt icy cold and her stomach was about to turn.

_But how _good_ did it feel, don't you remember, _a voice in her head said and she couldn't disagree. It _had_ felt good when she thrust the horn into the _empousa's_ chest. Even now it felt good in her hand.

"What is wrong with me," she whispered but this time Caleb heard her. He looked at her and stretched his hand to catch hers. She was a bit surprised at the gesture but when he tightened his grip on her hand for a moment she returned the squeeze.

"There's nothing wrong with you," he said quietly so that only she could hear him. His voice was like a cool remedy to a burning wound. It went through Lexie, calming her down. It made her heart beat differently – not with frustration or excitement, but with something else…

Caleb pulled his hand back and Lexie felt stupid for a moment before she looked away. Her eyes caught a light in the distance and then fixed on Rubens's reflection in the glass.

"Rubens, how much longer?" she asked.

"Not sure. About five miles I think."

"Hey, Lexie," Barry said and looked back at her from the seat next to the _empousa._ "You okay?"

Lexie managed a little smile and a nod. He nodded in return and he looked relief.

"Why, was there anything wrong with me?"

"Oh, no, you just…" he stumbled and tried to find the right words. "You were just… a little… not like yourself, you know?"

Lexie was quiet for a moment. So he'd noticed. Of course—he always noticed details, it was only natural he'd seen something wasn't right with her before.

"Yeah," she said. "I know."

Rubens saw the mansion in the distance and pulled over in front of the tall gate. The _empousa_ had led them here and now was the time to figure out what they should do.

First of all, it was probably crawling with crazy vampires, ready to kill them any second. If anyone asked him, he'd say it was a suicide mission. But it was _their_ suicide mission to save their friend. He wouldn't back out for the world.

"Okay, here's the deal," he started when everyone was out. "We talk to them on the intercom at the gate and tell them that we're here for an exchange."

"I told you already that it won't wo—"

"Shut up!" Lexie said and the redhead complied with a lot of teeth gritting and unspoken swearing.

"Wait, what if they really don't care about her and don't want to make any exchange?" Caleb asked.

"A better question is," Barry intervened in a grim tone, "what if her wicked sisters have _already_ killed Johnny?"

It was a question they'd all avoided ever since they set out for the mansion. No one dared to assume the worst but they had to know _if…_

"I think that I'll go in there and rip every single _empousa's_ head off until none are left standing," Lexie said with a grim determination that somehow gave everyone else the strength to continue. But Rubens shivered—he feared it wasn't just a figure of speech. "What's your name, _leech_," Lexie said to the _empousa_ and she got a vicious hiss in return.

"It's Helly," she spat out. "As in you're going to fucking _hell_ when I get free."

"Well, then I'll make sure you don't. Killing you would be my best chance, you know," Lexie said coldly and Barry smiled despite the seriousness of Lexie's words.

Rubens walked over to the intercom and pushed the button.

"_What do you want,_" a woman's voice called.

"We're here for our friend and we have Helly with us. We'd like to make an exchange."


	11. The Savior

"S-save you?" Johnny said in confusion as the girl sobbed on his shoulder. "You mean, like…"

"Oh, we've been prisoners here for so long we no longer even remember what real sunlight feels like," a girl said and Johnny's hears sunk at the sight of the incredibly sad pretty being.

"Prisoners? Who would…?"

"The _empousai_," the dark girl from before explained. Now she was looking at him with big beautiful eyes full of hope. "It all started in the 60's when the freethinking movements formed. The hippies were the largest and most well-known one, which was originally started by Dionysus's followers – us. The _empousai_ started hunting down more and more men thanks to this movement but most of these men were already under our influence and… well, I suppose their blood wasn't good enough to be drunk."

"Yes," another girl chimed in. "Then they decided to capture every single one of us because we were prettier than them and had more people to have fun with."

"True, but they have always been stronger physically and we just couldn't resist as they took every single _maenad, thyad, baccha_ and _mimallonede_ that they came across. Some of them managed to escape or hide but we were taken," another explained.

"Hey, don't forget about us!" a girl said from the back of the room. She stood there with a few more girls that didn't quite look like the rest—they were… different. "They started persecuting us just as they did you."

"Right. Nymphs and Dionysus followers. They even have some daughters of Aphrodite in the next room."

Johnny was overwhelmed by the information. He knew that pretty girls didn't like competition but this was a whole other level of resentment. He remembered two girls from last year who'd been fighting for some tiara… it had been an _awful_ catfight.

"And then one of ours spoke of a dream she'd had," the girl in Johnny's arms said after she composed herself. "She spoke of our leader's child who'd be captured and would help us escape! Up until now we believed it would be a girl but you…"

"So you think I'm the son of Dionysus?" Johnny was somewhat hopeful when he heard that. That would mean all those girls were _his_ followers. Ha! He couldn't wait to rub that in Barry's face.

"Well, aren't you?" the girl looked at him with a hint of doubt in her eyes and Johnny felt his whole scheme about to take a turn for the worst.

"No, no, no, no! I mean yes, yes! I am. I am the son of Dionysus," he hurried to say and heard a collective sigh. Oh, well… he could be the son of Demeter, but he couldn't tell them that. Not now at least.

Now he had to think of a way to get the hell out of this place without getting his blood drained by a bunch of mental vampires. When he realized every single girl was looking intently at him, he took in a deep breath and looked around.

_That's right, boy! Show them your resolve, show them who's their daddy,_ the voice was saying with a laugh. Johnny wanted to shut it up but then it told him something important. _Now listen. Tell them who you are. Tell them you'll free them and they'll be yours forever! Do it! Tell them _who you are!

"My name is Jonathan Rae Keller," he said in a loud clear voice full of determination and power (he had no idea how he'd managed that…). "And I am here to help you to your freedom!"

The room rang with the roar of cheers and applauds.

Johnny had never felt more alive.

"Okay, why don't we just break through the windows?" Johnny asked. The committee of rebellious prisoners shook their heads.

"There are no windows on this level, my lord," the appointed leader of the _bacchae_ said. It was that same dark girl with black hair from before. Johnny blushed and waved a hand.

"D-don't call me that, please!"

"Well," she was a bit confused. "What then…?"

"Master Jonathan, we can't escape this room," the _maenad _leader said. She was a tall lady with very curly, very red ginger hair and vivid green eyes. "We have tried countless times but the wards…"

"Please, just Johnny. Johnny is fine," Johnny was saying pleadingly.

"Master Johnny," the _maenad_ said, "these wards are made especially for the likes of us. We can't cross them."

"What are these wards," he asked. An idea was forming in his head. It was something Barry had told him a while ago: _what stops other people doesn't necessarily stop me._ Maybe he'd be able to cross these wards.

"Well, we aren't very certain. They are daughters and followers of Hecate—they are bound to know some magicks," the _mimallonede _leader said quietly. She was a small girl but she was very lively and very beautiful with her wavy ash blond hair and bright amber eyes. She had a thin tiara on her head made of pretty colorful flowers and grasses.

"I think I might be able to do something about it," Johnny said and saw how the girls' faces lit up with excitement.

He was more than happy when he actually managed to cross the doorway.

_Bless Barry and his thieving stinking logic!_, he thought with a smile on his face. He turned to his wide-eyed followers and grinned as he bowed as if receiving applauds on a stage. "Thank you, thank you," he was saying and the girls laughed and clapped.

There was one problem now. How the hell could he deactivate the stupid wards? He looked around for a lever or a button or something but then he had to remind himself that magic didn't work like that. Damn.

"Okay… now how do I deactivate them?" he asked the girls and they all looked at one another in confusion. They hadn't the slightest clue. Johnny pitied them for a moment (_so beautiful and so helpless, god help me I want to be the one to protect you forever_) but then he ran fingers through his curls and comforted them. "Hey, don't worry. I'll figure it out; you just stay here and wait for me to return, okay?" They nodded and he was off.

The corridor was a small one but it was richly decorated. There were beautiful woodcarvings on the ceiling, the walls looked like they were taken from a French palace, and the lamps were shaped like exquisite bronze candelabrums. The floor was covered with a thick carpet that looked quite expensive. Johnny walked for less than minute before he reached a door. After it the hallway curved to the left.

Johnny, being used to snooping around with Barry, placed an ear on the wall beside the door and when he didn't feel or hear anything, he moved his head to the door.

He could hear voices now, quiet, almost undetectable, but they were there—girl's voices. Tired girls' voices.

Okay, he said to himself and placed his hand on the handle. He was just about to walk in when he stopped himself. What was he doing?! First, he could be walking into a room full of vampires. Second, there might be another barrier here and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to pass it this time. So he gulped and with a nearly trembling hand, he opened the door but stayed in the hallway, as far away from the room as possible.

The room was just like the other one only smaller. There were only several girls inside, looking nothing alike. The only thing in common was their beauty. _These must be the daughters of Aphrodite that the girls talked about_, he thought. When the girls saw him they were frightened for a moment. Then, when they didn't see a threat in him, they came to the door with hopeful smiles on their faces.

"Oh, you're here to save us, aren't you?" one said.

"Oh, thank the gods!" another added.

Then they were all talking very loudly over one another and Johnny felt like his head was about to explode.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Take it easy, ladies," he said and they quieted down. "First you have to tell me who, or what, you are."

"We are prisoners! We—"

"Yes, yes, I know," Johnny said. He didn't feel very comfortable in their company and he wasn't sure why exactly. "Are you the daughters of Aphrodite?"

"Yes! Yes, we are!" one of them almost cried.

"And two daughters of Cupid, two of Selene and one of Apollo! Please, you have to help us!"

"Yes, but don't come in!" a small thin girl said from the back. She had pale skin, beautiful full lips, almost invisible freckles, long ash blond hair and eyes dark blue and endless like the night sky. Johnny had spent quite a while with a bunch of insanely beautiful girls that no one would be able to resist but none of them had looked like this one—she was different. Not really prettier, that would be impossible, but if he had to choose it would be her. With no hesitation. Her voice was strong and clear even though she looked tired and drained from being a prisoner here. "There are wards on the doors and we can't get out. If you're a demigod you would be stuck here like the rest of us," she said grimly and Johnny instantly wanted to break the arms and legs of whoever locked her in here. He took in a deep breath and looked at her—directly at her—even though the rest of the girls thought he was speaking in general. He wasn't. He was speaking to the small girl in the back with night skies for eyes.

"I will find a way to free you, I promise," he said and it was the most serious he'd been in ages.


	12. So the Vampires Are Allergic to Wine

Johnny was in a daze.

He'd left the demigoddesses in the room, not that he had a choice, and had hurried up the stairs into another corridor. This one was plain, compared to the other one; too plain. Plain brick walls, plain wooden floor, small plain lamps every few feet. It was like a whole other universe here.

The corridor ended in a doorway on the other side there was a room, and this time there were windows looking towards a vast, dark ocean. It was still night time, Johnny noted and his heart sank. Hadn't he heard somewhere before that the creatures of the night were stronger… in the night? Seriously, how was he supposed to face a bunch of literally irresistible vampires that were out for blood—for _his_ blood!

No, if not for me at least I'll do it for _her. _

And somehow that simple thought gave him the courage to walk tall and proud into the room. He'd been right about one thing. He _had _to face those vampires. And apparently he had to face them _now. _

Four pairs of blood red eyes turned toward him and he instantly felt the power of their gaze. _Nu-uh, _the voice from before was saying cheerfully. _You ain't getting this chump, ladies._ Since they were hoping to have him mesmerized, which he wasn't, it was a great surprise and shock to them when he started walking slowly around the room towards them. He looked surer of himself than he actually felt.

_Please don't attack me, please don't attack me, please don't attack me… _

"Well, let's see if I remember correctly," he said in a loud, joyous tone that gave you the feeling he was the one with the upper hand. He most definitely wasn't but who knows, maybe these vampire chicks were dumb enough to be fooled. Johnny knew from personal experience that girls would often surprise you… "Krissi, right?" he said and pointed a finger at the girl who'd brought him here. She was so mad that her hair twirled and twisted as if it were real fire. Her eyes were flashing with anger and a killing intent. "And… her posy," he finished and some of the vampires stood up, heading for him.

"I told them we should've locked you in with the demigoddesses," one of them said and raised her hand to strike a blow…

"A-a-a! Wait just one second," he said in a hurry and that made her stop just long enough for him to start talking. "I come in good faith, okay?"

"You know what; I think I might kill you just now. Sisters?" Krissi was giving him a hard time. _Come on! _He gritted his teeth and willed himself to will them to listen…

"_Wait for just one damn second!_" he said loudly. "I just want to tell you that killing or confining me would be a major mistake on your part."

"And why is that?" Krissi's eyes studied him for a moment. For a moment he felt naked and exposed, and vulnerable. It _sucked_...

"Well because," he started. And then he remembered something from earlier. _Tell them who you are and they'll be yours. _"You seriously don't know who I am?"

It seemed to confuse Krissi for a moment. "Who you are?"

"Yeah," Johnny said, trying to waste as much time as possible. He was slowly moving towards the couch and when he reached it he sat down theatrically. He looked at the girls and smiled. "Ever heard of _Charlie's Angels?_"

The vampires were baffled. They stared at him in disbelief—either he was the biggest sucker in the world who was just begging to be killed, or he was someone powerful, important or both. But they nodded, against all odds. They _did_ know of _Charlie's Angles. _

"Well, _they _call me Charlie."

The room was as big as the one they kept the demigoddesses in. Johnny was sitting in the middle couch. There was a long tea table in front of him and on it there were all kinds of raw meat, Carpaccio's and sushi. There were also several bottles of red wine. _These girls know how to eat… for vampires, I mean. _But Johnny focused. He was on a rescue mission. He had to save the pretty girl from downstairs and free his father's (wait, he might not really be his father)—Dionysus's—followers and then run the hell away from here.

He was hyperactive and his concentration wasn't a strong point but when his eyes saw a knife, he started plotting with every single brain cell how to get to it without being noticed. Now that he had the vampires' attention things might go smoother than he first thought.

"You mind pouring me a glass," he nodded at one of the bottles and the girl scowled at him before she poured him some. He tried it. It was _divine._

Wait a second, what was he _doing?!_ Wine? Really? Well, it was true that he had a thing for alcohol, wine in particular, but it wasn't the time for that. That wasn't how he'd get the knife… was it?

_Oh, stop whining and enjoy the fucking wine, boy,_ the voice in his head was saying, _taste it, try it as a real wine expert, make sure they see every move you make. You know wine better than anyone. Feel it, have it, use it!_

Feel it, have it, use it.

Johnny felt something stirring in the bottom of his stomach. When it reached the top of his head and the tips of his fingers he took the glass closer and closer to his mouth… he sipped. And suddenly, instinctively, he knew what to do.

With a sharp movement he twisted the glass and the wine went in the face of three of the vampires. He heard hissing, cries of pain and… was that sizzling? No—no time now. He bent down and reached for the knife just as the other vampire was jumping for him, fangs first. He turned and lifted his hand, thrusting the knife in her chest, all the way to her heart. His eyes were wide with horror and excitement when she exploded into golden smoke. Then he heard another burst and turned to see one of the vampires had become golden dust, wet with wine. The other two were screaming and cursing and hissing and it was so loud and so piercing and so outright _scary, _ that Johnny found himself stepping back in disgust and fear.

What the hell was wrong with them!? Was that the wine? Had _he _done that?! No time to think about that now. He leaned forward and quickly grabbed two bottles. He looked at the vampires covered in some sort of golden liquid, and smoking from the wine. (_How did it work like acid on them? And _how_ were they drinking it then?_ Johnny's mind was whirling. He was a total mess right now but he had to save the girls from downstairs.

"Hey! Krissi!" he shouted, trying to get her to hear him over her wailing and cries of agony. He felt almost guilty having to do this. "Hey! Tell me how to put down the wards of the rooms."

"May you… rot in Tartarus for all of eternity," she spar out and finished with a… swear?—at least Johnny thought it was a swear—in ancient Greek.

"Tell me now and I'll make the pain go away!" Johnny shouted and another vampire burst into a golden cloud. Krissi screamed in pain and her bloodshot eyes went from the golden puff to Johnny and back.

"Make it… go… away," she pleaded with something like a roar. Johnny shook his head.

"Tell me now!"

"I DON'T KNOW!" she screamed and fell to the ground, her body was convulsing uncontrollably and for a second Johnny felt like he was the worst monster in the world. The other vampire turned to gold as well and now there was just Krissi, wailing and crying and screaming. Johnny looked around and found… a vase with flowers. He took the flowers out and then as fast as he could, he poured the water over Krissi.

The sizzling and smoking stopped and so did the convulsions. Her eyes were wide with relief and the lack of pain seemed almost hypnotic to her. For a moment her eyes flashed in purple but then they became red again. and this time they were filling with a translucent golden liquid. Johnny knew, he didn't know how but he knew, those were tears.

"Th-thank… you," she whispered and sighed. She closed her eyes for a moment and then she looked at Johnny.

"It's… a brother of mine who put the wards. He's on the second floor right now plotting," she said quietly. Johnny was overwhelmed, he didn't have to torture her to get the information he wanted!

_Thank god,_ he thought. _Gods, you numbskull! There's obviously more than one!_, the voice conveniently corrected. Johnny nodded to himself and stretched his hand out to Krissi. She just looked at him in disbelief.

"Take me to him. We have to get him to remove the wards," Johnny said.

"We? You killed _four _of my sisters in less than an hour, you splashed me with poison and now you want me to _help_ you free the prisoners I've worked so hard to catch?"

Johnny pursed his lips. Yeah. It was a pretty good summary of the events so far. He nodded carelessly and waved at her to catch his hand.

"Yes. And you will help me because I saved you from the wine and you were the one who attacked me in the first place. You pretty much brought this onto yourself, lady," he said and she stared at him. Yeah, it was a better summary of the events. She had nothing to say and she just took his hand and he helped her to her feet.

He didn't need to say anything else. The silent glance exchange was enough. She could see the two bottles of wine in his hands. He definitely had the upper hand now. She just waved for him to follow.

They were on the stairs when a bunch of vampires and a couple of guys ran down in the opposite direction. Krissi was confused and she pushed Johnny behind her before she stopped one of them to ask what's going on.

"Oh, some demigods have Helly and want to make an exchange for their friend," the vampire explained. Johnny gulped and his heart skipped a beat. It was them! They really _did _ come to rescue him!

He was so happy right now that he didn't even realize what would happen if this vampire Krissi was talking to recognized him as the one they wanted to make the exchange _for_. That was until she looked at him with suspicion.

"Who's this, Krissi?" she asked.

"Oh, just a brother. He's new."

The other vampire nodded and smiled at Johnny before she ran off with the rest of them. Krissi turned to Johnny the moment he turned to her.

"Where are they going?!" he asked.

"They're attacking your friends," she said simultaneously.

Johnny's heart sank. Whatever he did, he couldn't let his friends die. Not now. Not ever! He had to help them…

But… wait a second. Johnny smiled at himself and wanted to hug his brain. _I am such a freaking genius sometimes,_ he thought and pulled Krissi up the stairs.

"Come on," he told her. "We need to hurry!"


	13. The Rescue Party

Lexie expected a trap ever since Helly told them where to go.

Now there were a bunch of angry _empousai_ coming their way, and they didn't look happy at all. Like this they didn't stand much of a chance—they were on enemy territory, they were greatly outnumbered and they had no idea how powerful the foe might turn out.

She looked at Rubens just as he looked at her. There was a connection between the two of them for a split second and then he turned to the rest of their friends.

"Inside the van, now!"

Everyone jumped in, casting worried glances at the approaching _empousai_. Lexie shoved a protesting Helly in and shut the door. "Drive," she said as she did it.

And Rubens drove. Caleb had sat down next to him in the front seat and was telling him something that Lexie couldn't quite catch over the roar of the engine. They were driving fast up the alley, headed straight for the main entrance. Lexie realized what Rubens wanted to do and instinctively shouted at Caleb—"Shield the van!"—at the last possible second before they crashed into the wall.

VOOM!

Everything hurt.

Lexie hadn't put a seatbelt in her hurry to get Helly inside and she'd been thrown forward at the impact. She craned her neck and then tried to stand up from the weird pose she'd taken. When she tried to move her arm though… she winced in pain.

It was probably the first time she ever felt pain so strong. All the other times in the fights she'd come out unscratched even if she'd been thrown out a window (it actually did happen once).

"_Fuck,_" she cursed. How the hell was she supposed to fight now?

She stood up and looked around, holding her shoulder with the other hand, trying not to move too much. Helly was looking at her from between the seats, confused from hitting her head in the back of the seats in front. Barry and Buch were dusting themselves off a little stiffly—they'd been in the very back and the impact was weakest with them.

Which couldn't be said about Rubens and Caleb in the front seat. Lexie froze. Suddenly the pain was all gone and every thought of the _empousai_ had disappeared and all that was left was… Caleb's head hanging back, blood dripping from it…

"Caleb," she breathed and shot forward. "Caleb! Caleb! Caleb, wake up!" she was saying louder each time. Her voice betrayed her and quivered and her vision dimmed. She was holding Caleb's head up and with the other hand on his shoulder she was trying to shake him awake.

"Caleb!" she shouted. Then he took in a deep breath and she felt both shocked and relieved. He blinked as his eyes focused, gulped and looked around. His eyes fell on a shocked, shaken Lexie that was staring at him with wide fearful eyes. "I thought you were dead," she whispered and Caleb could only pull her into his arms. He was still a bit confused but he knew he'd blacked out and he'd heard her voice calling him. Only, he was certain something important happened while he was out. He just couldn't remember what yet.

When he let her go, she looked to the side, where Rubens had been sitting. Now he was out in front of the van, looking at the now-wrecked room. There was rubble everywhere and smoke was coming out of the front of the van. Lexie could breathe now and she let Caleb get out and followed.

In the distance she could hear cries and realized they were actually attacking the _empousai's_ lair. She turned around and saw Helly trying to get out of the van but her bronze leg was curved in a pretty unnatural way and she was holding a dislocated shoulder with one arm. Her otherwise beautiful face was hidden behind an angry grimace. Lexie went over to her and caught her by the hand for which she received an unthankful snarl.

"You're not going anywhere, sweetheart," Lexie said and reached over for the horn. The _empousa_ shivered at the sight of it and Lexie smiled. Now the pain from the crash was starting to fade away. Lexie felt energy prickling through her as she got ready for an actual battle.

_Empousai _started surrounding them. By the looks of it there were at least 20 of them. They were horribly outnumbered, that was a fact. Lexie remembered how she always said that if she were to die, she'd want to die fighting. She licked her lips as her eyes studied the hissing _empousai_. Helly seemed pleased but that didn't worry Lexie.

Buch was looking at them as if they were angels come to save them. With his dazed expression, Lexie wasn't sure if he was high or just stupid. The magic of over 20 _empousai_ though was no small deal and she instantly felt sorry for him. She just hoped Rubens and Caleb kept their clear heads. Barry could also be of a lot of help right now… but of course, why wouldn't he be influenced too? He looked just as stupid as Buch did.

Lexie gritted her teeth and looked at Rubens. He was using most of his concentration to stop their influence on him but he managed to nod and Lexie spoke to the _empousai_ as she held the horn to Helly's throat.

"As my friend told you before, we are here to make an exchange," she said. "No one needs to die tonight."

"How about we just take you and kill you? Would you be in a bargaining position then, little girl?" one of them asked with a laugh and the rest of them hissed in agreement.

"How about we kill all of you off and then simply take our friend, will you bargain with us then, old hag?" Lexie shot back and the _empousa_ cried out at the insult and growled at Lexie. "I just don't think you have any idea who you're dealing with."

"Sisters," Caleb said loudly and clearly and that got the whole room's attention on him. Everyone seemed surprised at the address but the _empousai_ quickly saw in Caleb their mother and master's blood. They kept quiet as he talked. "Let us part in good faith. I was deeply offended that any sister of mine would willingly attack me and my subordinates. As your brother, I am asking you, sisters, give me back my friend and we will go and leave you in peace."

His words seemed to resonate within the _empousai's _minds and some of them nodded and took a step back. But others just hissed in return and turned to talk to one another.

"You might be of our blood, but you are only _half _our brother," one of them said. She was taller than the rest and she looked stronger. "And _they_ will be enough food for my sisters for more than one feast. And they don't have any blood within them, they have _demigod _blood."

"There will also be a satyr side dish," another _empousa_ said.

Lexie glanced at Caleb and Rubens, they were getting nervous. Rubens was casting uneasy glances at Barry and Buch and at that moment the only thing in Lexie's head was…

…battle…

She turned to the two mesmerized boys and screamed with as much power in her voice as possible: "Barry! Buch! Snap out of it! NOW!" And they did. They looked around with confusion and quickly went next to Lexie and Rubens. "Get ready for battle," she said then and her eyes flashed with bloodlust. Her mouth curved in a smile and she pushed Helly forward, plunging the horn into her chest. When the _empousa_ burst into golden dust, the battle began.

Caleb sent flying spheres of explosive violet energy in every possible direction. He was getting incredibly tired but he couldn't stop now. Not when everyone's lives were on the line.

Ever since Arachne attacked them in the warehouse he couldn't help but feel responsible. If it wasn't for him, they'd all probably still be in Miami, living in their blissful ignorance. The moment he'd showed them the plans to get to Camp Half-Blood was the moment everything went crumbling down.

_If it wasn't for you they'd all be dead,_ a voice said in his head and a part of him just couldn't disagree. _Well, except for Lexie maybe. She'll always find a way to survive. _

Suddenly an _empousa _jumped on his back and dug her teeth deep into his neck. He felt a sharp pain that spread through his neck to his shoulder and made him stiff for a moment. Then something happened—his heart was beating like crazy and suddenly an awful lot of energy burst through his neck in the face of the _empousa_. She disintegrated momentarily.

Caleb couldn't breathe. With the other hand, he reached for his shoulder and then felt his neck. There didn't seem to be any wound but the spot was so hot and packed with energy, it was vibrating. He fell to his knees. He'd lost way too much energy. He couldn't fight anymore or he might actually catch on fire and die…

Then he heard Lexie's cry. "Caleb!"

Seconds later she was next to him. The horn in her hand was covered in golden blood but as usual, there wasn't a scratch on her. She was looking at him with those beautiful, golden brown, wide, intense eyes, trying to see if he was hurt, if he was okay.

"I… I can't fight anymore, Rager," he said in a quiet voice with a lot of strain to keep it unwavering.

"Y-you stay here. I'll protect you," she said and in moments she was fighting _empousai _again. Caleb felt the world darkening, the shadows elongating, the ground shifting beneath his feet… everything was spinning and then the shadows took over and there was only blackness.

Lexie was fighting the _empousai_ as best as she could but only she and Rubens could really fight. And they were fighting to protect not only themselves, but Barry, Buch and now Caleb. Whenever one monster fell, two others came to take its place. The battle seemed hopeless. The room was full of golden dust and liquid.

To be honest, this was the most fun she'd had in years. The problem was that she couldn't afford to think like that—she wasn't alone in this. She had to think of her friends. She had to think of that idiot Johnny, who always, _always_, got himself in trouble. And now they were here to save his lazy ass. Again.

The _empousai _had surrounded them now. There was a moment in which everyone just stayed motionless, waiting for the other one to attack. Lexie, Rubens, Barry and Buch were in a small circle with their backs to Caleb in the middle, who had fainted from the overuse of his powers in the last couple of hours. First against Arachne, now against these monsters.

Lexie was losing patience. She wanted this to be over with. They were losing, she could feel that—the _empousai_ were just too many! No matter how well she and Rubens fought, it was a lost battle. Lexie was just about to attack when she heard a voice from the distance. A male voice.

Johnny's voice.

"Hey, anyone need help?"

Lexie turned around and gasped.


	14. The Feeble Try of the Empousai

There was nothing Johnny loved more than a good entrance. And what an entrance this was…

The timing had been perfect. Krissi had showed him who the guy was that could take the wards off and now Johnny was standing in front of his friends with the very unhappy son and daughter of Hecate and an army of girls behind him, holding the two with angry hands, itching for blood. Well, now that Johnny was their official savior from some girl's prophecy, every single one of the chicks was ready to follow his orders (some more than others—the Dionysus/Bacchus cult women had to do that anyway).

When Johnny's friends turned their heads to him and the girls, he wished he had a camera so that they could take a look at their faces. The emotions so clearly visible off them ranged from pure unmistakable shock to somewhat sadistic satisfaction and deep, sweet, invigorating relief. (To be honest, Johnny was a little offended at the latter—what; did his friends think that he couldn't handle himself? Puh-leeze!)

But what he liked more than the looks on the faces of his friends were the looks on the faces of the vampire chicks they were battling. It was like the best birthday present a guy like him could wish for.

There was a whole second of complete stillness and silence. And then all hell broke loose—

Vampires were changing into horned monsters with huge fangs, claws, burning hair and donkey legs (one of which was bronze) and the girls behind Johnny erupted in a wave of white, green, pink and golden. Then… he could just sit back and enjoy the show—literally. Any guy would want to see this!

_Yeah, you go girls!_, the voice inside Johnny's head was saying and he wasn't sure if it was his own voice, or the other—the one that knew stuff like what he had to do, where he had to go, when he had to hide and how he had to convince the girls that he was their savior. Even though that voice was really annoying at some points Johnny was quickly growing fond of it…

He looked back and glanced at the demigoddesses still standing in the staircase. Some of them were ecstatic, others were shocked and then… there were those who were scared. Like Ellen, the girl Johnny had fallen desperately for. She had been quiet ever since they came to let her out. Her teeth were gritted and her hands were clenched in tiny exquisite fists that looked as if they'd be the ones getting broken if she tried to break something with them. Johnny shook his head and pushed such thoughts away—he was sure she was stronger than she looked right now. He was certain she wasn't like the daughters of Aphrodite who were keeping away from the fight only because they were worried they might break a nail or damage their hair. The daughter of Apollo – Sophie – was out there, wielding some sort of spear, fashioned from a wooden curtain rod that she broke off the wall before she left her room. She was so good at it that it was almost insulting and Johnny couldn't watch.

He was no fighter. He was usually the one being beaten up or protected by Lexie or Rubens or Barry… but what could he do about it? It was something he had to live with – even though he was bursting with energy all the time he just couldn't fight no matter how much both Lexie and Rubens tried to teach him.

And now he looked at them, both obviously tired but battling and killing off blood-drinking monsters. Even though they were deep into enemy territory, they looked as if it was just where they belonged—they were _in their zone!_

Johnny gave a quick assessing glance at the girls behind him—three of the _nymphs_ and _bacchae_ had stayed behind to hold off Krissi and her brother, the daughters of Cupid, Aphrodite and Selene were looking out at the battle from time to time but they definitely didn't look like they would go anywhere nearer to it. But now, according to Johnny's plan, they had to.

"Hey," he called to two of them. When he got them closer, he pointed at his friends. "See the guys fighting?"

"Y-yes?"

"Okay, now, I want you to get out there and get the guy that's passed out between them."

The girls took a moment to understand what he was asking of them and their eyes widened in horror. "What?!" they yelled and stared unbelieving at him. "We can't go out there! They might kill us!" True. Now that he thought about it, Johnny realized that it probably could happen in the crossfire. But before he had time to think he saw two figures rush past him into the melee.

As he stared, blinking stupidly behind them, his eyes caught a wave of white blond hair and he gasped. Ellen?! No! No, no, no! I swore to protect you!

Before he had time to think, he was up and running behind her in the direction of his friends.

"Johnny!" Lexie screamed his name as she stabbed a vampire and it turned to dust. She ran to him and suddenly he couldn't breathe and he felt as if he were in a vise—then he realized that it was just Lexie, holding him really tightly and for this moment of pure emotion from her he felt like he could cry. It was probably the first time that she showed any real affection and he held her too until she jerked back only to spin the horn into the head of a vampire that was about to rip his own head off his shoulders. "Go!" she shouted at him and her eyes flashed for a moment in his direction – a brilliant blue colour that sometimes gave him the creeps (only when she was cross with him—she had that look…), and then added, "Get back where you were! I can't protect you here!"

Johnny didn't have the time or the nerves to argue with that. But he didn't listen to her. Instead he turned to where Ellen and her half-sister had crouched down beside Caleb. He hurried over to offer his help. And yell at them. A little…

"What _the hell_ were you thinking?!" he hissed at Ellen and she just looked at him with those deep eyes of hers. He read unshakable determination and he knew there was nothing he could do to stop her from helping. _I like this girl,_ the voice said inside his mind and he hushed it. _She's not yours! Shut up!_ He realized the absurdity of what he was doing and saying and just made his thoughts whirl, not concentrating on anything in particular. "How am I supposed to get you out of here alive if you just keep on running into danger?!"

"Who said I wasn't prepared?" she said and lifted a long piece of wood that obviously used to be a chair leg. Johnny couldn't help but smile and then grinned even more when he saw the hint of a smile in the corners of her lips.

"We have to get him out of here and make one of the nymphs treat him," Ellen's half-sister said as she looked out for vampires. "The _empousai_ don't look like they're falling back – they're keeping their ground."

"Good," Johnny said in a low tone. "We might be able to kill off more of them before they realize how stupid they are. Wait, what did you say?"

"That we have to get him—"

"No, no – after."

"That the _empousai don't—"_

"There! You mean the vampire chicks, right?"

The girl looked at him blankly. Then she nodded and Johnny smirked. _Empousai_. What a creepy name. _Well, what do you expect? Creepy name for a creepy species… _

"Okay, let's move Caleb over to the stairs," Johnny said.

It wasn't long before they had the _empousai_ outnumbered. Lexie was regaining her strength now that she had so much help from the vengeful girls that Johnny brought. She had been so thrilled a moment ago when she saw him next to her that she just couldn't hold back her emotions. It had probably been the first time that she'd shown such emotions to him and now she just felt stupid and a little frustrated.

She was relieved though that they'd taken Caleb away. At some point she noticed a couple of girls leaning over him and a minute or two later he was sitting up. _Healers… thank god!_

And now the fight was almost over. All the remaining _empousai_ (around twenty) were gathered in the center of the wrecked room with a tight circle of angry… well, she wasn't sure what exactly they were, but least of all she knew they were not human.

"Master Johnny," one of the girls called out. "They claim they will surrender now."

Lexie laughed. _Master Johnny?_ Oh, come on!

The girl shot a cold glance in her direction and she realized the girl was serious. Lexie looked at Rubens who just lifted his shoulders and shook his head. He looked just as bemused as she was.

"Hey, for the last time: _don't call me that,_" Johnny hissed as he came closer to inspect the twenty-or-so _empousai. _He looked up at the girl, then sought out Rubens's gaze.

"If you ask me, master, I think they should all be killed for their crimes against us," the girl said and Johnny nodded. Then he shook his head.

"N-no. I don't think so. Look, they surrendered."

The girl looked heartbroken. "What!? No! you saw what they did to us! You have no idea how long we've been in their prison down there!" Johnny raised a hand to make her stop and she did. Then he brushed his chin as if stroking an invisible beard and then cast a glance at the rest of the girls in the room. They were all looking at him expectantly, longing for the blood of their jailers. Lexie somehow felt their need for revenge resonate somewhere inside her. She took in a deep breath and so did Johnny.

"Look," he started and started walking slowly around the room, looking at each and every one of his warriors. "These… monsters have done a tremendous injustice to you and by all means they deserve no mercy. But, tell me honestly, do you think yourselves equal to them? Are you not so much more? So much better? Will you so irrevocably stoop down to their level in search for cheap revenge? No. Thus you will only prove that you are no better than they are. "

Lexie was surprised—she'd never heard him say such pretty words. She was certain that he had no idea what half of those meant. But it seemed to affect the girls. Immensely. She saw most of them look down, as if in embarrassment. Several blushed and one or two were about to start crying any second. Then the girl that spoke before looked at Johnny and spoke again. This time her voice wavered.

"Well, what should we do with them? We can't just let them go, you know," she said.

"I think I might have a solution to that," a voice said from behind. A voice all too familiar to Lexie.

When she turned around she saw Caleb, tall and proud and looking refreshed. There was another guy next to him, tall and slim and with long black hair that reached somewhere above his ribs and beautiful Native features. He had fixed his dark brown eyes on Johnny, his arms were crossed over his chest and his jaw was set.

Lexie had no idea where he'd come from but he seemed to hate the _empousai_ as much as the girls did, so Lexie didn't question his being so close to Caleb, who was currently unprotected (not that he couldn't protect himself). Then she found out he was key to Caleb's idea…

The _empousai's _ cars were good.

By good I mean all of their cars (and there were 10 of them) ranged from two Toyota Land Cruisers to a Camaro, to two BMW Z4's. These leeches seemed to have everything here in this damn mansion! Even an old beat up Defender which Lexie fell in love with immediately.

As it turned out, after Caleb and Jared put wards on the rooms which now served as prisons for the _empousai_ (Thank you for the idea, Caleb!), a it wasn't just Lexie and the gang that were headed to Camp Half-Blood. There were three more girls and Jared, whom Caleb had managed to convince. Johnny was now nearly finished saying his goodbye to the girls and they kept telling him if he needed their help he only needed to call them on Iris. Whatever that meant.

"Listen," Lexie said at last. "I don't care what you guys say, I'm getting the Defender. And I'm driving it. I don't care."

Barry laughed and eyed the Camaro. "Wanna race?" She narrowed her eyes at him and Caleb stepped in.

"Guys, we're not taking either of those cars. We need to use as less cars as possible and get there as quickly as possible. We're taking the Cruisers and it's over with. Jared will be driving one, with Buch next to him and I'll be in the other. Who wants to go where now?"

It was sad news for both Lexie and Barry but they had to get over it quickly. In ten minutes the cars were leaving the garage, driving by the wrecked front of the house and the van that had crashed into it. There were still some nymphs left and Johnny waved his last goodbye at them. They blew kisses that turned into butterflies and then disappeared into the night. Soon the sun was going to rise. Lexie could feel it.

Jared and Buch had taken Rubens, Barry and a daughter of Aphrodite, Joanne, in the backseat. The other car was occupied by Caleb in the driver's seat, Lexie next to him and Johnny in the back seat accompanied by a pretty girl with blond hair (Ellen) and her friend (Marylou).

The ten of them were finally headed to that damned demigod camp.

But Lexie was too smart to stop expecting more bumps on the road.

But for now, just for now, she allowed herself to relax and soak Caleb's presence right next to her.


	15. A Godly Visit

"So, Joanne, huh?" Barry said from the other side of the back seat.

The girl, Joanne, didn't pay him much attention. Rubens wasn't sure if it was because he'd warned her, or because she was a daughter of Aphrodite and it was generally in her blood not to care about guys like Barry. Rubens wanted to laugh at his feeble attempts at a conversation.

"Look, can I just sleep for a while?" she said to him in a tired tone and he just stared at her as she turned her back to her and faced Rubens. She turned her eyes and pursed her lips in a smile. Rubens stifled a laugh and turned to the window. It wasn't long before he was taken by a dream that he hadn't expected.

He was floating. There was no weight in his body and he felt at peace. The water was gentle to his body, almost healing. He felt at peace, he knew that wherever the stream took him it would be a good place. He drifted in this peaceful state for what seemed like hours and hours… until the waterfall.

He didn't even hear it coming; he didn't even feel the change of the current (how could he not feel that?!) until he was falling. The sensation had nothing to do with the soft, calm gliding on the water that he had experienced moments before. This was a hardcore, unbearably scary, death fall. He screamed until his lungs gave out and his voice grew hoarse. He was turning and shifting in the air that was beating against his body. The pain was being numbed by the adrenaline, but Rubens was certain that there would be some bad bruises afterwards (minus the imminent death that awaited him at the bottom…).

He was accelerating by the second. Soon the sudden change of heights would be too much for him and the pressure would kill him. That would be a painful way to die… but why now? How did he get here anyway?

"Now you seem to be asking yourself the right questions," a voice said from the left. Rubens was too shocked at the fall to be surprised. He managed to shift so that he could look at the person speaking. It was a man dressed in a khaki explorer suit with the hat and scarf and everything. Binoculars were hanging from his neck (not down, but sort of… bouncing around because the man was also falling). He looked old. Way too old to be moving around so freely. But apparently he was old enough to look calm and completely at ease at the fact that he was about to die. He smiled at Rubens and offered his hand. "Nice to meet you, Rubens Devaux, you get 30 feet if you figure out who I am," the man laughed.

"Joker god of explorers and fucking death falls?!" Rubens screamed and literally felt himself fall faster.

"Oh come on! For a son of Athena you're not as sharp as you should be," the old man said, sounding disappointed and frankly bored. (How the hell can you be bored if you're falling you your goddamn death?!) "Again. And this time you'll get 40 feet. Come on, let's see you in action."

Rubens wanted to scream but his vocal cords were too strained out. He was breathing hard, losing oxygen. The fall was wearing him out too much for him to be able to concentrate as the old man was asking. But… fuck it, he had to!

Okay, think, he told himself. You have to know this guy. Otherwise he wouldn't be betting your life on it… would he?

"Okay, okay…" Rubens said, buying himself some time. "You're a god… right?" The old man smiled and nodded for him to continue. "Okay… urgh… you are a god of…" Rubens cursed in his mind. He had to think! The next words came out of his mouth fast like a machine gun. "Okay, so we're falling, but we haven't reached the ground yet so I suppose you must have something to do with that since there's nowhere on Earth that could pose a fall this long… s-so… some sort of illusionist?" he looked at the old man, who was smiling. A simple smile that could mean anything—but Rubens used it, for him it meant go on. So he did. "You're dressed in the clothes of an explorer so you must have something to do with that. Exploring, jungles, lost treasures, lost civilizations… lost cultures." Rubens paused – he felt as if he'd stumbled upon something important. "Culture. Traditions, arts, crafts… you're Apollo, aren't you?"

"Very good, Rubens Devaux!" the old man laughed and his blue eyes flashed with satisfaction. His mouth turned into a blinding smile. "You get 40 feet." Suddenly Rubens felt as light as a feather. He started falling slower.

Oh, I see what game you're playing, he thought. I'll play it. Let's see how it turns out…

"Why are you here, Apollo?" Rubens asked him, trying hard to speak over the blowing wind.

"Well, I see you want to get right down to business, don't you?" the man said and shifted his position as if he were sitting on a comfortable couch with his legs crossed. "As it's expected from the son of Athena… so stuck up. Too much for my taste…"

"Hey!" Rubens snapped at him. "That's my mom you're talking about!"

"Ha! At least you have more spirit than the rest of your brothers and sisters. That much I can see." The god paused, observing Rubens who was now a bit calmer about the fall. "You know I am the god of prophecies, aside from everything else. I'm here on business, Rubens."

"What business?"

"Well, let's just say I'm helping you out and one of these days I'll ask you to help me out. How does that sound?"

Apollo was smiling again but this time there was something in his smile that Rubens wasn't sure he trusted. He was thankful to Athena being his mother. If he were anyone else he'd be fooled right away—but he wasn't. He could see through Apollo's sweet face…

"Oh, you are good," Apollo said and clicked his tongue as if he'd just read Rubens's thoughts. "But you can trust me on this, kid." The man's voice changed for a moment and Rubens could feel he was sincere.

"What kind of help are we talking about?"

"Oh, just the normal innocent kind," Apollo shrugged and winked at him. "Listen now and listen carefully for I will not repeat myself and I will say it quietly… my father might get mad at me for telling you this." Apollo flashed another smile and Rubens tried to ignore the narcissistic undertone. But he held his breath anyway. "First things first, you need to get to the demigod camp in…" he looked at his old-fashioned pocket watch "…45 hours. Otherwise you'll all be gonners and no one would be able to do anything to help you. Not even me, with all my abilities…"

Rubens was speechless for a moment. Confused. He stared at the old man and then he realized what he was telling him. "We… we'll all die if we don't reach the camp in 45 hours?"

"Pretty much…" Apollo stood up from his imaginary chair. "Now… I must get going. The other thing is, keep an eye on Marylou. She's my daughter you know. I have several things in store for her." He eyed Rubens again and his lips curved into a satisfied smile. His bight blue eyes narrowed for a moment. "I like you, Rubens. I like your name. Reminds me of a friend of mine back in the day… but be warned, you have me to answer to for Marylou, got it?"

"Got it," Rubens repeated like a ghostly echo. He didn't see much sense though. He was about to die anyway so how was he supposed to take care of that girl? When he looked up at the man again, he was gone. Then he made the mistake of looking down. The world was spinning and he was falling faster than ever. He was reaching the bottom of the waterfall. His heart was beating so loudly in his chest that he could feel the ribcage cracking from the inside. In a moment there was so much adrenaline in his veins that it made his brain explode in… not pain but… cotton—his head felt like a cloud… and then everything ended.

It was as sharp as that. Black. Boom. The peak of the adrenaline rush that the fall had given him. He was dead.

Until he inhaled so deeply it startled everyone in the car and made Jared lose control of the wheel for a moment.

"What in the name of Olympus was that?!" Buch said turning from the front seat to see what was happening in the back. "Rubens?"

Rubens was breathing hard, his throat felt sore as if he'd been screaming his lungs out and now that he tried to explain to Buch, barely a sound came out. He cleared it a couple of times and then managed to get his voice together.

"I… we need to pull over," he said. Buch looked at him with confusion and before he had any time to ask questions, Rubens tapped Jared's shoulder. "Now."

"45 hours?" Caleb repeated uncertainly.

"Yeah, that's what he said."

"No, I mean… 45 hours is enough time to get there, come back here and then get there again. I don't get what he was on about."

"You think he tricked me?" A terrible feeling washed over Rubens and he involuntarily raised his hands and ran his fingers through his hair. Anyone would think this was the act of a desperate man. Rubens wasn't this kind of guy though. He put his hands down and looked up with a stern expression.

Ever since he'd got out of the car he hadn't been able to shake that girl, Marylou, off his mind. What was so important about her that Apollo had specifically warned him to be careful with her? He was looking at her now (he couldn't help it), he was trying to take a good look at her now, see if he could grasp any of Apollo's hidden meaning but there was nothing. This girl was a mystery. She was short and lean, skinny even, her auburn hair fell wavy and messy to the middle of her back, where it ended in sea blue highlights. She was wearing a baggy five-sizes-too-large black tank top of the Arctic Monkeys, black leggings and old Converse sneakers. Rubens could definitely see why the empousai would want her out of the picture but he didn't see any indicators that she needed his protection. Maybe Apollo had a sun stroke from all that time in the chariot and now he was blabbering nonsense…

"I don't think he tricked you," Marylou said. Everyone turned to her and she flinched at all the attention but then she inhaled deeply and put it to her advantage. "I think he knows that something will happen to us on our trip to the camp and we'll have to work hard to get there within two days." She looked around as her words sank in and then her warm brown eyes settled on Rubens. There was something in that look, he was sure of it. He just couldn't put his finger on it… this girl was a mystery to him!

"Okay, I want two people keeping track of the time we have and I want us to get back to the cars and drive as fast as we can. If something is to happen to us I want to put as less space between us and CampHalf-Blood as possible. Now, how much time do we have left?" Caleb looked around but for a moment no one answered. "Buch, Lexie?"

She looked down at her wristwatch and he checked his phone. "It's 5:17a.m.," she said and nodded to Buch. "44 hours, 43 minutes left."

"Good." Caleb said. "Let's get going."


	16. Trophonius's Trophey Room

Rubens got back in the car first and he sat behind the wheel. He'd had enough sleep. He didn't feel like any more unexpected visits from gods.

His arms were on the wheel and his head between them. It was aching and his mind was annoyingly cloudy. Apollo was an ass. It made him wonder if the rest of the gods were like him. He wondered if his mother… no. No way. Athena couldn't be like that.

The door to the side opened and someone came in. Rubens didn't look up—he knew who it was.

"Buch, let's just get going. I'm driving this time. Tell that Jared guy to sit in the back…"

"Okay, I'll tell him," a voice said but it wasn't Buch's. Rubens looked up to see the warm brown gaze of Apollo's daughter. Marylou was looking at him with something like satisfaction. It reminded him of Apollo and h just shook his head.

"What do you want?" he said and his head sunk to the wheel. His mood was getting even worse now. Every time he looked at this girl he was reminded that he was now her dad's pawn. Great. Just great.

"I want to know what you and Apollo talked about," she said with irritation and Rubens was forced once again to look at her. Dark hair, big brown eyes, turned up nose and lips pursed together in annoyance.

"Why don't you ask him? He's your dad, isn't he?"

"Do you speak constantly with your mother?"

"No…?"

"Then what makes you think I speak to him?"

It was a good question; Rubens had to give her that. But the way Apollo had talked about her… he'd been so protective Rubens had been left with the impression that…

She must've seen the confusion on his face because she backed off.

"Look, I just want to know what exactly he told you. You know, it would've been nice if he'd said it to me. How hard is it, really, to have _one_ short conversation with your own daughter…?"

Rubens sighed. He could relate. He could definitely relate. So he tried to explain his dream as best he could. He wondered if he should leave out the part about her but he decided only to change it a bit. "He uh… he said he had some things in store for you."

"He said that?" She didn't sound convinced. She narrowed her eyes at Rubens and then the back doors opened and Barry, Buch and Joanne slipped in the back seats. "And he couldn't just come to my dream and say it to me?"

"Apparently," Rubens said and started the engine. "Buch, keep your eyes on the road."

"Okay but why are you driving?"

"I've had enough of sleeping."

With a last glance at Marylou he drove off.

What the girl had said before left Lexie on edge. They had (she looked at her watch) 44 hours to get to Long Island and something was bound to happen to them in that time. They'd already gone through Arachne and a mansion full of _empousai_. She wasn't sure what else awaited them on this damned journey.

"Drive carefully, okay?" she said to Caleb, who'd insisted on driving even though she could've taken his place so that he could rest a little.

"Okay," he nodded and took off carefully after the other car. "Hey, Jared, can the children of Hecate do protection spells? Like charms that will prevent any harm and make sure we get to the camp safely and undisturbed?"

"I don't know," the boy said shortly. "Never tried. I always feared it'd go wrong or not work at all."

"Yeah? Same here I guess."

"Guys, I think we'll be fine for now," the girl in the back seat said quietly. Lexie had trouble recalling her name. Something like Mellon…?

"How so? Anything could happen to us in the rest 44 hours," Johnny said with something like fear in his voice. He was trying to look cool in front of the girl but he was doing a pretty bad job. "Ellen, tell me you can do some sort of protection spell…"

"Not really, but I _am _the daughter of Selene. So far nothing bad has ever happened to me while the moon was up."

No one said anything. Then Lexie nodded. "Let's hope your good luck shines on all of us. Otherwise you might be a lone survivor."

So it _was_ an uneventful night. Or whatever was left of it… Caleb and Rubens pulled over in a gas station and the demigods decided to stay there and rest until morning. Lexie, Rubens, Marylou and Johnny had been against the idea but in the end they had no choice but to stay with the crew. No one got anymore visits from the gods in their dreams but in the morning Johnny claimed he'd dreamed of some huge eagles flying over some crop fields and destroying everything with laser eyes and then there'd been a stampede of unicorns and a Pegasus. He also spoke of a big rainbow but no leprechaun at the end. Just a bunch of organic cookies that tasted like dirt. Buch laughed at the last part but no one else got the joke and he didn't feel like explaining.

"Okay, guys we have 39 hours to get to the camp," Lexie noted. "I say we get going now and get this whole thing over with. I don't know about you but I don't feel like dying today."

"Yeah, me neither," Joanna said as she was looking at her nails. "Besides, I totally need a makeover so the sooner we get there, the better."

Lexie gritted her teeth. She wanted to fight, yes, but she convinced herself that she wanted only to fight enemies and this… girl… wasn't one of them.

The nine demigods and the satyr were sitting on two neighbor tables at the gas station diner. They hadn't ordered yet since no one had come to take their order. They were famished and now, 15 minutes after they'd come in, there were still no waiters around.

"What the hell is going on with the waiters," Barry asked and went to the counter. He looked but there was no one there. "Hello?" he called. "Helloooooo!" he said louder. "Hey!" he almost shouted. No one was answering.

Lexie got a _feeling_ in her gut. She knew right away that it meant battle ahead. Her muscles tensed and she jumped on her seat, spreading her arms protectively in front of her friends as she looked around for danger. That's when the rumbling started.

It felt like an earthquake—deep and powerful. It was making everything in the diner shiver and tremble and vibrate. Everyone else jumped up and looked around. There was no one there.

"What's going on?" someone shouted.

"Earthquake!" Buch squealed as he was hiding under the table of the diner.

"You don't say," Johnny countered.

Lexie jumped down and went over to the door. Rubens was right behind her, inspecting the windows on the other side. Barry was holding both hands at the counter, trembling like a leaf in the wind.

"I don't see anything," Lexie said and turned to Rubens. The whole building was shaking now. Rubens shook his head and waved a hand to everyone else.

"Come on, we have to get out of here," he said.

Barry hurried in front of the group, unintentionally pushing Rubens and Lexie through the door. What happened afterwards though had absolutely nothing to do with him…

As Lexie stumbled forward, Rubens was pushed by Barry against her and the three of them fell forward. But they didn't fall on the asphalt covering the ground of the gas station. Right in front of them a crack had opened up in the earth so big that it swallowed them whole.

They fell in darkness and screams of panic. After a short straight fall, they tumbled down a slope until in the end they fell in a tunnel. All of them were moaning and breathing hard. Barry was still panicking and Lexie had to grab him by the shoulders and shake him to make him stop shouting things like "What the hell is going on?!" or "No, please! I'm too young to die!"

They had no idea where they were. Mainly because the place was absolutely dark. Whatever light came from above vanished in the length of the slope, leaving the three demigods in perfect darkness.

Lexie's heart was racing and her ears were ringing. She felt numb all over and she was certain she'd be left with some bruises from the surprise fall. She could feel cuts on her arms and back and the ankle and knee of her right leg hurt. Her hands were still holding Barry's shirt very tightly to escape the trembling from the shock and adrenaline.

"What _is_ this place," Rubens coughed. Lexie couldn't see him but she could feel him standing up and dusting his clothes.

"I don't know," she said quietly but her voice still felt loud in her ears. "Anyone have a light?"

"Y-yeah," Barry breathed and a moment later he flicked a lighter on. They were in a tunnel, Lexie already knew as much. But she hadn't realized how huge that tunnel really was until she saw it with her eyes. It was round, like a cylinder. At least 10 meters wide and tall. The walls were covered with soil and rocks and spider webs which made shivers run all over Lexie's back. Her head filled with thoughts of the time when Arachne came with her minions—was that only _yesterday?!—_but she managed to shake them away. She cast a glance at Rubens who wasn't doing as well. His teeth were clench and she could see the muscles of his jaw twitch. He noticed she was looking at him because he turned to her and it made him relax, even if only a little.

"Okay… we really have to get out of here," Barry said with a trembling voice. He eased out of Lexie's grip and walked over to the hole from which they'd fallen. "HEEEEY!" he shouted. "CAN ANYONE HEAR ME!?"

There was no answer. Lexie got up and craned her back. Her tailbone hurt but she could live with the pain. What she couldn't live with was Barry's screaming. "Would you cut it out already?" she said. "They can't hear us. We're too far away."

"She's right. We need to move." Rubens started in one direction but Barry immediately countered.

"What—_move?!_ Are you insane? We have no idea where this thing leads to!"

"True but what are we supposed to do? Stay here and die of old age until they find us? I don't think so," Rubens said in a cold relentless tone that made Barry stand still and stare at his friend. After a moment's pause he nodded and started in Rubens's direction with the lighter raised high. Lexie and Rubens followed.

The place seemed endless. They shouted so that they could inspect the Echo but it the sound was distorted and the whole tunnel felt like it was about to collapse over them so they decided to keep it quiet.

Lexie felt dizzy. There was something very wrong with this place. She could feel it was going somewhere she wouldn't like. She also knew that it wouldn't have mattered even if they'd gone in the other direction. There was just something about this place…

They had just turned the corner when she saw a faint light at the end of the tunnel before the next curve.

"What's that?" Rubens asked.

"Stay here," Lexie said and walked ahead.

"What? No!" Rubens countered.

"Yeah, what if it's, like, dangerous?" Barry added a little hazily.

"Just shut up and stay there!" Lexie said, irritated. She walked ahead and the light from the lighter flickered. She swallowed hard and continued. The faint light turned out to be coming from… a weapon.

Lexie didn't trust her sight at first but as she got closer she saw that it really was a knife that emitted the bronze glow. She stared at it in disbelief and then a little voice at the back of her head reassured her that this was hardly the weirdest thing that she'd seen lately.

She reached out and held the knife—the dagger, something whispered in her mind—and when she raised it she heard a voice right behind her back.

"What are you doing? It could be—"

Rubens was interrupted by the glowing dagger that was suddenly at his throat. The cold metal felt like it was vibrating against his skin.

"—dangerous," he finished and when Lexie saw it was him, she cursed and lowered the weapon.

"What the _hell_ is wrong with you?!" she hissed at him. "I could've killed you! Just like that."

Barry ran over. "Guys, we have a problem." He didn't really have to finish the sentence. The lighter did it for him by going out and leaving them only lighted by the bronze glow of the dagger. "Or… not so much of a problem I guess." Barry was looking at the dagger as if enchanted. And then… "Hey. Hey, that's bronze!"

"It is?" Rubens frowned.

"It's _Celestial _Bronze," Lexie said quietly but as before, not quietly enough.

"Celestial_?_" Barry asked, staring at the weapon and at Lexie and then back at the weapon.

"How do you know that?" Rubens was asking.

"I don't know," Lexie said. For the first time in her life she felt unbalanced, scared even. Why? She didn't really know why… maybe it was because of all this fucking knowledge that she suddenly had. She didn't know before that this was an Arkansas Toothpick made of Celestial Bronze that hadn't been used for seven years, and its last holder was a son of… Hermes.

"Hey, can I see it?" Barry asked and Lexie handed it over. She didn't want to have anything to do with it anymore. Well, she actually didn't want to have any more knowledge pouring into her brain out of nowhere… she needed to breathe.

Before the boys had time to react she took the curve and walked ahead. But then something got her attention—the light was too strong. She looked up and caught her breath.

Ahead of her the entire tunnel was sprinkled with bronze weapons. They were everywhere. From small pocket knives, to stiletto daggers and all kinds of swords—shortswords, sabers, rapiers, longswords and broadswords… all made out of Celestial Bronze, emitting a faint glow that mixed with the rest made the whole tunnel shine in a bright bronze light.

The knowledge that she wanted to escape? Yeah, it came flooding back in but this time she couldn't stay away from it. It became a part of her and now she _wanted_ to know more about those blades. She wanted to use them, she wanted to battle something and… wait what?

"Oh," she started and then Barry and Rubens stood behind her and finished her sentence.

"My—"

"—Gods!" Barry said and when Rubens and Lexie looked at him he shrugged. "What? We _are _demigods, aren't we? So there's obviously more than one god out there."

"True," Rubens said and smiled.

Then the looting began.

Barry kept the dagger they'd first found and took a broadsword, a knife and one more dagger. Rubens got his eyes on a couple of identical shortswords and a bow and quiver. The quiver was empty but he did find some scattered arrows. Some bronze and some… golden. Imperial Gold, as Lexie informed him. He felt like she was right about the name of the metal so he didn't question it. Lexie on the other hand was all equipped in gold. She'd found an intimidating golden helmet and armor. She was holding them in her arms with a crazy smile on her face while at her waist was the sheath of a golden longsword. On her leg she'd tied a dagger and on her back was a broadsword, much like Barry's but golden.

"Guys," she said, her voice quivering with excitement. "If this tunnel is as dangerous as we think, why don't we put some armor on?"

"I don't know," Rubens said. "I fear it'll just slow us down. We'll get tired more easily. And if we have to run…"

Lexie looked at him with a mixture of irritation and amusement but she did put the armor on. The Imperial Gold female breastplate fit perfectly as if it were made especially for her and for a moment Lexie felt sad for the poor girl that it used to belong to. She looked up at her friends and smiled devilishly with the helmet resting between her elbow and waist. Her other hand was resting on the hilt of her sword. She looked magnificent and intimidating. Barry laughed and Rubens couldn't help but smile.

"Now, shall we continue on our journey, my friends?" she said and the gold glimmered as she turned around and went ahead in the tunnel. The gold mine faded away and soon the only light came from the weapons they'd taken.

Suddenly Lexie stopped in her tracks. "Did you hear that?" she said, taking off her helmet.

"No?" Barry looked around and raised his dagger like a torch, lighting the tunnel. "What is it?"

"It's like…" Lexie looked at where they'd come from and then back ahead. She stared into the darkness ahead and then Barry and Rubens heard it. It was footsteps. And with the footsteps came a man.

Lexie took out her sword and Rubens nocked an arrow before Barry even saw what was ahead of them. And when he did he jumped back and raised his sword with unsteady hands.

The man was walking slowly towards them in silence as if he didn't see them but when he came closer he stopped and looked up. He was tall and broad shouldered, dressed in ancient-looking robes. He was wearing sandals and there was a staff in his hand. The top of the staff looked like a bee's nest if Lexie had to be honest. The man had clear brown eyes and very curly hair that fell to his shoulders and also a scruffy brown beard, topped with a long moustache. He had a kind expression that turned into a warm, slightly crazy smile at the sight of the three demigods.

"Oh! Visitors! I haven't had visitors in so long, I feared I had been forgotten!" he beamed and rushed forward to pat Lexie on the shoulder. She was stunned that she didn't do anything to stop him. "Good, good," the man was saying as he held Rubens's shoulder in a firm grip. "An Athenian walks my corridors! Ha! I haven't seen many of you here. Wonder why. But my, my! I sense another god on you, young man. Have you been talking to Apollo? Oh, no doubt you have… that old geezer. You know he visits me from time to time. We compare notes, he informs me of the upper world, we play chess, drink a little make some jam sessions with his friends, lots of fun, you know?"

The man was talking so fast that soon Lexie couldn't keep up with him anymore. She glanced at Barry who just shook his head and shrugged to show he also had no clue as to what was going on.

"E-excuse me, sir," she said then, interrupting a story about the last time when Apollo came, all crazed about haiku (in which he really sucked at, surprisingly). The man raised an intent brown gaze at her and she forgot for a moment what she was about to say. "Um, uh, y-you, we never got your name, sir," she finally got out.

"Oh! Where are my manners! My name is Trophonius, my dear Alexandra. I doubt you've ever heard of me though," he laughed—a loud, healthy, hearty laugh that reverberated in the tunnel. Lexie wondered how he knew her name. "Now, tell me, kids, how did you—"

Suddenly his eyes glazed over and his head fell back. His whole body convulsed like he was about to have a seizure. Lexie ran over and together with Rubens they put him on the ground while Barry was trying to blow some air to the man's face by making his hands into a fan. Then Trophonius shot up and took in a deep breath which made Lexie and Rubens jump back. And then…

"_From slumber and hiding the five will rise,  
a mystery great will be how they've survived.  
A long lost exile shall lead them north  
but an unexpected twist shall sever their course._"

The man took a deep breath and his eyes became brown again instead of the ghostly grayish color they'd been a second ago. "Oh my," he said. "Did I just say out a prophecy?"

"I… we thought you were about to have a seizure!"

"Well, I believe that these things happen, yes." Trophonius seemed completely unshaken by what had just happened. "But I do have a little rhyme lurking in my mind for quite a while. Bartholomew, would you hand me your dagger please?" Barry obliged and gave it to Trophonius. The man looked at it, smiled and put the flat side to his lips. Then he breathed on it. When he gave it back to Barry there was something along the blade that Lexie couldn't quite make out but by the looks on Barry and Rubens's face, there was something written there.

Lexie helped the man up but when she tried to pull away and give him some space he grabbed her shoulder and whispered in her ear.

"Listen carefully, dear Alexandra. I know all the dangers that lie ahead of you for I have seen them. You will most certainly have a hard time. But remember one thing—surprises come from the oddest of places. Now. I will help you find your way back to your friends and let you keep everything you've found here, but you must do me a favor as well."

"What is it?" Lexie breathed. Every fiber of her body was ringing with alarm. This man was much more powerful than she had thought at first.

"When you meet the Oracle of Delphi, you must give her this and say that Trophonius sends his regards." The man took out a small wooden box from his robe and handed it to Lexie. The box was decorated with exquisite patterns that she could swear looked like bees rather than flowers. "This is all I ask. You will have the aid of my friends but this will be all, young warrior."

"But…" Lexie wanted to ask him so many questions but he stepped away with a warm smile that inclined he wouldn't tell her anything more. Lexie looked at the wooden box. It felt heavy and she wondered what was inside it that was so important, Trophonius was helping them so much. Now he turned to Rubens and said something in his ear while Barry came over and showed her the dagger.

Lexie looked down at it. On one side she could see the words Trophonius had said before when he was about to have a seizure and on the other side, there was more.

"_The mind-born child will have to choose,  
from desire and duty one must lose.  
The lioness will avenge a friend most dear,  
And the vine and the moon shall not be queer._"

Lexie took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She looked up at the man with the scruffy beard and dark brown hair and warm brown eyes. He seemed so friendly and so nice and even a little crazy, but Lexie felt like he'd just handed them a death warning. She wondered why that was…


	17. A Confusing Spirit

They walked down the tunnel with Trophonius in the lead, talking to Rubens about the wits and powers of Apollo (that and how much he sucked at haiku and how he was still addicted to it, sadly).

"You know how many myths and legends and stories there are about him, don't you?" he asked Rubens and the boy nodded out of sheer courtesy, he didn't want to let the man down. He really had no idea and when he turned around with an expression that read _Help me! _Lexie couldn't help but smile, stifling a laugh. Barry on the other hand couldn't control himself as much. He chuckled and Lexie had to punch him in the ribs to make him stop. He kept smiling though.

"You think the others are okay?" he asked her when he calmed down and she looked at him suspiciously. For all the time she'd known him Barry had never cared about anyone but himself (mostly). She wondered if he'd finally come to his senses and when she eyed him she saw in his face (the crease in his forehead, the intent look in his eyes, the pursed lips… the very worry that he emitted) that he was sincere. But she had no idea what to answer. They'd been down here for at least an hour. Anything could've happened with the rest of the gang. She shook her head.

"I don't know."

Trophonius and Rubens stopped walking and the older man turned around with a friendly but sad smile. They'd reached a fork in the tunnel and Lexie knew very well what that meant.

"This is where we part," Trophonius sighed. "Remember what I told you two," he said to Lexie and Rubens and she swallowed hard as the words came rushing in her mind. _You will most certainly have a hard time. But remember one thing—surprises come from the oddest of places._ The box felt heavy in the pouch she'd tied to her belt. Rubens just nodded. Lexie reminded herself to ask him about what the man had told him later.

"What about me?" Barry asked innocently.

"Oh, you hold on to that dagger, young man. You will have a very important role as the bearer, holder and protector of this prophecy. Make sure it reaches your destination intact," Trophonius smiled and pointed with one hand towards the fork. "Here our ways part, young heroes. But I have reason to believe our paths will cross once more."

He lifted his staff and tapped it on the floor only once and ever so lightly but the echo was as loud as if he'd shouted. As it quieted down it turned into a light buzzing and the top of the staff started vibrating. Suddenly a hundred little buzzing creatures exploded from it. They were bees (Lexie knew the staff resembled a bees' nest!) and they were spinning around Trophonius like crazy… but they weren't touching him. Nor were they touching any of the three demigods. But Lexie didn't feel assured by that, no sir. She hated bees. Very much.

Once, when she'd been little she'd had a pretty bad sting on her neck that got her a week in bed, feeling like a slug the whole time because of the medication. At least now the bees weren't attacking. They were Trophonius's and they obeyed him. It struck her that they were the friends he spoke of before – they were going to lead them out of here and back to their friends.

Half an hour later Barry emerged from a drain on the side of the I-95 into the warmth of the beautiful sunlight. Rubens and Lexie followed and then they all collapsed to the ground, completely out of breath. The swarm of bees was buzzing calmly above their heads. Lexie took in a deep breath and smiled. She'd never missed the sunlight more than when she'd been down in the tunnels and now that she could feel it all over her skin she felt at peace. But the better news was that they were actually back—they weren't dead!

"Come on," Rubens urged as he sat up. Lexie's smile turned out to be contagious – it took Rubens easily when he looked down at her. But then he looked away as if in a hurry and quickly stood up. Lexie eyed him for a moment and then followed. As Barry was getting up Rubens was looking around. "There," he said, pointing at a set of buildings in the distance. "That's the gas station."

They started on their way and with a final collective goodbye-buzz the bees scattered across the fields.

At first Johnny, Caleb and Buch were _this_ close to losing it. Caleb had been screaming Lexie's name and Johnny and Buch were shouting for Barry and Rubens but no answer had come. The earthquake stopped but the three wouldn't have cared even if the gas station was falling down around them—they had to get their gang back. The hole in the asphalt was big and it had a very earthy feel to it. Its walls were crumbling fast and it seemed as unstable as it could possibly get—any attempts to go in there were a suicide mission. Jared, Ellen, Marylou and Joanne saw that. Something made Caleb see that. But Buch and Johnny didn't care.

"We have to get in there and get them," Johnny was saying.

"No," Caleb said after a silent exchange of glances with Jared and Marylou. Ellen was off with Joanne who was getting a panic attack and needed to breathe. "No, you can't."

"You have no idea what's down there," Jared added.

"Not to mention that it's falling apart," Marylou noted. "You'll be practically buried alive in there and then there'll be no saving your sorry asses."

Johnny and Buch gulped and exchanged glances. Then they nodded and stepped away from the hole. "But what if they're in danger down there?"

"Yeah, what if they need help or something," Johnny added.

"They'll be okay. It's Lexie and Rubens we're talking about. They're the best fighters among us, they can definitely take care of themselves, they're tough. And not to mention Barry—he's the most resourceful guy I've ever known in my life. Don't you think?" Caleb smiled encouragingly but it wasn't clear if he was trying to convince his friends or himself. He continued anyway. "Together they have the biggest chance of survival, they're virtually unstoppable!"

That seemed to do the trick.

"Oh yes, they'll be just fine since my brother will eventually find them," a voice said from behind but it didn't belong to any of the demigods. All heads turned to the direction where it had come from and faced a tall broad shouldered figure. A translucent, half-invisible figure.

"Holy Styx!" Buch exclaimed and did a weird set of jumps from one hoof to another. "That's a spirit." He cursed and shivered but when he composed himself he didn't look scared at all—just surprised and a little annoyed. Now everyone was probably thinking he was a weirdo, way to go!

"A what, now?" Johnny insisted. Jared took a precautionary step back and Marylou just stared in fascination.

"An actual ghost?" she breathed and a smile appeared slowly on her lips. Her eyes shimmered with excitement.

Caleb stepped forward protectively and Jared followed his example. For now they were the best protection the group had. The ghost stared at them in amusement. He didn't look old, he'd probably been around 35 when he died. What didn't allow anyone to let down their guard (even Marylou) was the air of mischief around him – he was the type of creatures that you shouldn't trust under any circumstances.

"What a jolly group you all are," the ghost beamed.

Buch nodded towards him, "Can I help you?"

"Oh, how kind of you to ask… no. I believe not. But your friends here might be able to," he said with a bright smile in the direction of Caleb and Jared. The boys looked at one another in confusion.

"Sorry, what?" Jared was saying but he was interrupted by an inquisitive Marylou.

"Hey, what was it that you said before? They'll find your brother? Underground?"

The ghost eyed her for a moment. His face turned into a grimace for a split second but then returned to his _smile_.

"No. My brother will find them, daughter of Apollo," the ghost said and that made Marylou freeze and take a step back. "Yes, Trophonius has always seen well to guests. Apollo is his most common one these days," he said with a hint of distaste and eyed Marylou disapprovingly. Something got everyone thinking – maybe those brothers weren't in the best of relationships… "I always try to tell him that Apollo is nothing like he was before but, hah, stepbrothers never listen, do they?"

"So your brother is a god or a spirit like you?" Buch asked, wrinkling his nose. He was trying to connect some dots but no memories were coming up. He was sure he'd heard the name Trophonius before… so he should know the story behind it. Brother… did his name start with an A? Maybe a G…

"Well, you can say he is considered a god by many but he has always been nothing more than a prophetic _daimon_, a spirit." The ghost gritted his teeth. "You know that we were equal once? Two of the best architects of Greece, you should've seen our palaces and temples. We even built Apollo's temple housing the Oracle of Delphi! Oh, such great times they were… and then came Hyrieus. That stingy rich bastard. We built him a great treasury which he filled with riches he took from his poor people. My brother and I, we used to go there and steal from him—you see, we knew all the secret entrances to it since we'd designed it!" He laughed but it wasn't a laugh of joy. It sent shivers up everyone's spines. "But the king wasn't stupid. He put snares and when my brother was about to step into the trap I pushed him out of the way and lost my life saving his." He paused for a dramatic silence. "Then do you know what my brother did? He cut my head off. He _cut my head off!_ Why? So that Hyrieus couldn't know who the thieves were—so that he could save his sorry skin! Served him right that he was swallowed up by the earth!" The ghost moved around the demigods, gliding weightlessly in the air, talking quietly and almost threateningly. "My brother was later seen as a hero! They started worshiping him and he, as a true _son of Apollo_, gave them prophecies. He gets all the glory and offerings and what do I get? I am stuck like barely a consciousness—I only get such a ghostly shape when a ram is offered in exchange for a prophecy from Trophonius, or when there are many demigods in one place. Just like now." The ghost sighed and smiled as if relieved. "And now… the time has come for me to get away from my stepbrother and finally gain a long-deserved permanent shape." He had glided right behind Caleb and Jared. "What do you say, sons of Hecate? You have the power to help me! Will you do an old and tired soul a goodness?"

"What was your name again?" Buch asked, as if the ghost hadn't asked for anything. It irritated him immensely. But he had to be nice so he smiled.

"Call me Agamedes," he said with a slight bow.

"Okay, Agamedes, why don't you just go to work in Camp Half-Blood? There are many demigods there and you will have your permanent shape and live happily ever after," Buch suggested and Caleb cast him a scolding glance.

"Because, my dearest _satyr_," he said the word like an insult which didn't really impress Buch, "I am _tied_ to my brother, who roams the tunnels deep below. I can only go where he is. Right now he is in this area and I can stay here and talk to you. Do you understand?"

Buch nodded and took a step back. He was starting to really dislike this asshole of a ghost—he might be trying to look all sweet and nice but it couldn't fool anyone. Gods only knew what would happen if this freak was out in the loose. A speedy thought crossed his mind that perhaps if the two brothers were reunited, they'd deal with their differences and make up or something… and knowing that Lexie, Barry and Rubens were down in the earth where Trophonius could find them, he only preyed that Rubens and Lexie didn't kill one another first.

He nodded to Caleb and Jared to come to one side and left the three girls with Johnny and the ghost, hoping they'd stay as they were and not create any trouble. The three guys stopped in a tight triangle away from Agamedes. And for a momentr they all stood silent before all three of them started talking in forcibly hushed voices full of rage, confusion and frustration, and tried to make sense of the whole situation.

"Who the _fuck_ is that guy?!" "Is he for real?!" "How the hell am I supposed to help him?!" "What if he's some sort of freak and goes on a killing rampage the moment we untie him?!" "The _fuck _does this guy want us to do? I mean… is there even a spell we could work?"

Caleb sighed in the end. This was not going to be an easy one. Where the hell was Rubens when he could easily give them the solution to the situation… Where the hell was Lexie, when she could cast a single glance at the guy and say if he was friend or foe.

Gods, this was a touchy one…


End file.
